An Offer She Can't Refuse?
by claraowl
Summary: Kyoko has had an absolutely horrendous month... and she can't get Ren's offer from Truth or Dare out of her mind. In this sequel to "The Truth about Onee-san," the entirety of Ren's "sweet but true" whisper is revealed... but what offer did he make, and will Kyoko's month force her to accept, for the sake of her sanity? Fluff everywhere!
1. What Can a Month Do?

**Hello, my darlings! I am back with the sequel to "The Truth about Onee-san"! :D**

**If you've not read it, that's fine – I'll give you enough information for this to stand alone – but reading it might help you understand where Kyoko is emotionally right now. **

**I do not own Skip Beat! Enjoy, darlings~!**

It had been, all in all, a _very _bad month for Kyoko.

The month before had been decent, and the month before that had been absolutely wonderful – that was when she had spent the night with Maria.

But this month, this week in particular? It had been a disaster. Everything that could possibly go wrong had gone wrong – and time won't even be spent here describing this horrendous week, as Kyoko has asked that she not be forced to relive it outside of the authoress's twisted mind. She conceded that, as it is necessary to the story, the final horrendous day of the week – the one that drove her to her breaking point – may be presented to the reader.

It had started out as any normal day might, and Kyoko was filled with the hope that this day might break her six-day (well, thirty, really, but who's counting?) streak of bad luck. Her alarm had gone off on time, she had not burned breakfast, and she had made it to her destination, the all-day Box "R" filming, early. She became Natsu, and performed for her first set of scene wonderfully. The morning was fine, indeed. Natsu and her posse had decided to sit together for lunch.

That was when things had begun to go wrong.

The chain of disaster's first link was small, just like it had been for the previous six days – in fact, it was small enough for Kyoko to overlook it, as she was not an easily upset girl. Her ketchup packet had squirted straight up into the air upon her opening it, and had landed with a _splat_ on her tray. Fortunately, it did not get on her clothes, but it was messy nonetheless. Natsu laughed it off cheerfully, and urged the other girls to laugh with her. It was not every day, she informed them, that such a bizarre experience occurred over lunch. The other girls smiled, and moved on with the conversation, this time turning to a deliberation of their next attack on Chitose.

Then, when they were about to be called back, one of her bra straps decided that it had been used far too much; it therefore chose that precise moment to snap and die. This resulted in a highly undignified squawk of pain and shock from the poor girl, and Natsu fled her body. She was forced to quickly explain her situation of Chiori, who in turn told the director that Natsu's wardrobe had just experienced a serious malfunction, so she might need a few minutes. Fortunately, Kyoko always had a spare set of clothes with her – unfortunately, the only spare undergarments she had with her were Setsu's. Normally, she would have simply stitched or otherwise fixed her broken bra strap, but she needed to get back on-set as soon as possible, so she didn't have the time to do so. Instead, she was forced to wear the bra she usually only wore as Setsu. Her mood was not helped when Chiori poked her head into the room to check on her, and nearly caught a glimpse of Setsu's nude, black, and red lace. Natsu resurfaced, and made Kyoko's day even worse when she decided that she liked the bra – and decided to change into the matching panties before heading back out. Fortunately, Natsu had the good sense not to mention to the director what exactly had malfunctioned, but instead stated that she was ready to go.

The scene had, thankfully, gone smoothly – her bad luck did not seem to expand to include her acting, and that was the sole reason she was not a blubbering mess by now – with one tiny exception, not caught until it was too late. And, to Kyoko's (and, when it aired, Ren's) utter horror, the director decided to leave the scene unedited. The scene was one of mild seduction – Natsu was flexing her bullying muscles, so as to further manipulate people. In the scene in question, she convinced one of the boys in the class to lead on and then dump the main character. This was done with a few carefully worded suggestions and a rather large bit of personal space invasion. The actor playing the manipulated boy also noticed the unusual addition to the scene, but merely thought it was a (rather convincing) addition to Natsu's game of seduction and an attribute to the normally modest actress's professionalism.

As it transpired, the stage lights permitted the actor – and the audience – to see the red and black strips of Setsu's brassiere. The skin-colored strips did not show up, thus creating some rather… interesting speculation. Kyoko nearly died of humiliation when she had to explain to Chiori that she hadn't had a chance to see her friend, so the undergarments were still in her bag – and she had no spare bra. Chiori giggled, but felt bad for her poor sempai. It was not Kyoko's best day, but Natsu lapped up the attention, even going so far as to blatantly flirt with a few of the spare actors on-set for the seduction scenes (which the director had elected to film all at once, and with a variety of actors, for different reasons). This greatly improved the chemistry, so the director was extremely pleased (as were the fans, some of whom had almost unhealthy attachments to Natsu). Kyoko was mortified, and more than pleased to leave for the day when she was able to retreat to her dressing room and temporarily fix her abused bra. Then, clad in Natsu's ordinary undergarments, she made her way down the steps (as taking an elevator with her current bad luck seemed unwise, as she was likely to get stuck). Her day got infinitely worse when she heard a noise behind her, paused on the landing, and looked up.

"Look out!"

Someone had been pushing a large cart of pop cans past the top of the stairs, presumably to refill the vending machines, when the wheels on the side nearest the stairs simply snapped off. This caused the cart to tilt, and pop cans to go hurtling down the stairs. Some of them were punctured somehow, and so sprayed their overly fizzy contents everywhere, including all over Kyoko. She managed to get out of the line of direct fire, and so avoided any severe injuries – and, thankfully, managed not to fall down the stairs – but in the process, she had to move. This movement, of course, led to her stepping, and then slipping, on a pop can; she consequently landed on her bum. She then huddled in a corner of the landing until the pop cans stopped falling, and silence fell. The person who had been pushing the cart bowed his fervent apologies, and she assured him that she had not been hurt.

"I'm simply unlucky this month – this week in particular," she sighed, taking his offered hand up.

"Poor kid," he chuckled sympathetically. "Why don't you call up some of your girlfriends, or your boyfriend, for a night out on the town? You look like you need one."

She smiled, and said that she would love to, but that she had work tonight. He patted her shoulder, and wished her the best of luck.

Her day had not improved from there.

She dropped by Darumaya briefly, just long enough to change completely and avoid further costuming chaos. After bowing quickly to okami-san and taisho, she bolted down some dinner and pedaled away to don her chicken costume. Unfortunately, she ran over a bit of glass on the way; this glass lodged itself in her bike tires, but she did not have time to notice before locking up her bike and dashing into the building.

That day, Bo was even clumsier – and therefore funnier – than usual. He kept tripping over his own chicken feet, and once even landed atop Hikaru (who, to his credit, was able to laugh it off, despite his crush on the girl within the chicken). The audience was in stiches, and the guest confessed to never having enjoyed an interview quite so much – and even asked if she might make a repeat appearance someday. The Ishibashis were exceedingly pleased, and spent a good portion of the show bantering with the guest. Bo gestured wildly, indicating welcome to the point that he fell over. The audience and guest laughed further and the Bridge Rock trio hurried over to help a flailing Bo to his feet. Bo then bowed in apology… and his chef hat (they had just successfully finished the Cheers to Gluttony portion of the show) popped off and rolled into the audience.

There was a moment of dead silence, during which Bo attempted to cover up his bad buzz cut, vividly remembering the occasion with Ren. Then the audience, the guest, and even Bridge Rock burst into laughter. Bo hurriedly grabbed his hat, stuffed it back on his head, and temporarily fled the stage – but not before he stuck his wing back out and waved the hat for all to see, increasing the hilarity. By the time the audience had calmed down, Kyoko had changed into the basic Bo costume and was bringing out some tea. Of course, the sight of Bo simply redoubled the laughter, thus rendering everyone speechless for a few more minutes. Bo did not help this, as – after setting the tea down – he proceeded to flap around everyone, miming that he wanted to know the joke. That night, the ratings shot through the roof, even when Bo dramatically yet accidentally flapped off of the stage and into the audience. Fortunately, no one was injured, but Bo grew even more flustered after this, and thus caused more lovely chaos on- and offstage. The curtain fell to much applause (and, for whatever reason, a single bowl of applesauce was presented to the stage hands).

Kyoko was exhausted, and truly didn't know if she had the energy to bike home. She moved sluggishly after the Bo costume had been shed, and barely managed to wish her co-workers well as she left.

"Are you okay, Kyoko-chan?" Hikaru inquired.

"Ah!" she gasped, and turned back to Hikaru. "Yes! I'm sorry that I crashed into you!"

He waved her apology away. "It's fine. The audience ate it up." He cleared his throat, and then smiled at her. "Would you like to join us for something to eat? I know it's kind of late, but we can give you a ride home later."

"That would be nice, but my bike –"

"We can put it in the trunk. Come on, Kyoko-chan, it'll be our treat. You were the best part of the show tonight," he grinned at her, and the other two Ishibashis appeared at his shoulder, nodding.

"That's not true!" she protested. "You three were really good with the questions and all the banter!"

"Yes, but you were the best," Shinichi laughed. "How about pizza? There's a good place just down the street."

"Sounds like a plan," Yuusei nodded, and messed up Kyoko's hair in a brotherly manner. "Little sisters are supposed to listen to their big brothers, right?"

"Yes, but –"

"And, as your honorary onii-sans, we are telling you to come have pizza with us – our treat – unless you have another job this late, and then accept our ride home."

She hung her head. "Yes, Yuusei-onii-san. Thank you."

"Good girl!" he laughed. "Grab your stuff. I'm sure you'll feel better after you've eaten something."

At this, she smiled. "Thank you. I'm sorry to have worried you." She hurried off to fetch her bag, leaving Hikaru and Shinichi to gape at the third Ishibashi in amazement.

"What?" he shrugged. "I just want to make sure she stays safe until she finds someone else help her out." He grinned, waggling his eyebrows at Hikaru, and added, "I really do think of her as a little sister, so I can play that card – unlike _someone_."

"Oi!" he yelped, flushing.

"Aw, chill," Shinichi grinned. "At least she's coming with us this time. Maybe we can figure out why she's been so down lately."

Hikaru nodded quietly, whatever remark he would have given in return cut off by Kyoko's reappearance. "Sorry to keep you waiting!"

"No problem, Kyoko-chan. What type of pizza do you like?" Hikaru grinned, following her lead out to gather her bike.

"Hmm…" she deliberated for a few moments, and then smiled. "I'm not too sure. I've only had it once or twice before, though I would like to learn how to make it someday. I'm sure that anything would be fine."

"Then how about we get a large with everything on it, to split?" Yuusei suggested.

"Or we could get half with everything, and half with just cheese," Shinichi countered. "In case someone doesn't like something."

"Then wouldn't they just pick the stuff off?"

"Nah, that's too much of a bother."

Ignoring the continued bickering, Hikaru asked, "Which bike is yours, Kyoko-chan?"

"It's this one, Hikaru-onii-san," Kyoko smiled, approaching. "It—" she broke off abruptly, and crouched down to look at her tires. "Oh, no…"

"What's wrong?" Hikaru also crouched down, and grimaced at the sight.

"I must've run over a bottle or something," Kyoko said softly, her shoulders drooping. "Both my tires are shot." After she apologized to her bike, she simply put her head in her hands and sighed. "What a perfect end to a perfect week at the end of an absolutely perfect month."

Hikaru looked to the other two for help, and rubbed her back comfortingly. "That bad, huh?"

She sighed again, and looked up at him. "I'm really sorry, but would you mind if I gave you a rain check on that pizza? I'd really just like to go home and sleep. Maybe next month will be a little better for me."

"Of course," he said softly, helping her up while the other two put her bike in the trunk. "Don't worry about it, Kyoko-chan. We understand. Do you want us to just take you home? It's dangerous to walk this late at night."

"Thank you," she sighed. "With my luck lately, I'd probably trip and drown in a puddle. That's probably one of my least favorite possible embarrassing ways to die, right up there with death by rubber duck." She gave them a small smile, and bowed her thanks for the ride. They smiled in return, and drove her home in a comforting silence.

"Thank you again for the ride. Enjoy your pizza," she smiled, bowing, after they'd gotten her injured bike out of the trunk. "Good night."

"Good night, Kyoko-chan," they chorused in return. "We hope your luck improves."

"Thanks," she smiled. They watched her lock up her bike before slipping inside, and then drove off to eat pizza and hope that she cheered up a little.

Kyoko climbed the stairs tiredly, greeted her landlords with a somewhat forced, tired smile, and went to take a bath. She'd hoped that a nice long soak would improve her mood, but it did not; on top of everything else that had happened lately, she'd had to deal with the opening of her locks. The bath brought back memories of a certain character who loved long soaks, who in turn brought memories of the man behind the mask (though she had yet to fully realize that there was yet another mask between them). After about ten minutes of unsuccessfully attempting to rid her mind of the memories and enjoy the soak, she simply admitted defeat and washed up, donned her yukata, and retreated to her room. There she took up her hairbrush and attempted to marshal her thoughts into something less depressing or dangerous. Once her hair was taken care of, she got out her darts (a gift from taisho, when he had overheard her talking with Moko about Shotaro) and threw them at the poster of a certain singer, getting a vindictive pleasure when every dart met its mark – eye, eye, nose, mouth, throat, ear, hand, hand, shoulder, and heart. She then carefully removed each one, cleaned them, and stored them carefully.

She bustled around her room – it wasn't really late enough for her to sleep; it was just dark early nowadays – trying to do anything she could to distract her mind from the month she'd had, and from the man against whom she was attempting to re-lock her heart. She studied her scripts (that worked). She worked on her dolls (that failed miserably, but at least she had an excuse for analyzing him). She did anything – _anything_ – but stare gloomily at her phone, noting that _he_ would be calling soon. Shortly after she'd slept over at Maria's, they'd agreed – she'd suggested, actually – that they talk on the phone every night. He'd mentioned that he always slept better after hearing her voice, having gotten used to their nighttime chats as Cain and Setsu; and she, concerned for his health, had suggested that they contact each other before bed, for the pure purpose of helping both of them sleep. For she, after all, too slept better after hearing his voice. Really, this extra bit of contact and chat about mundane things had helped her keep her spirits up all through this perfectly horrendous month.

But tonight, after the day she'd had – no, after the week, after the _month_ she'd had, and avoided telling him about, not wanting to pester him with her petty problems – she wasn't sure if hearing his voice would help or hurt her. If she did, she might spill her guts and tell him absolutely everything that had gone wrong this past month – Moko being away on location for a movie in a foreign country and so not being able to talk, her tripping over everything, her losing and breaking things, food burning in obnoxiously short times, objects squirting her and ruining her favorite outfits, pop quizzes and long essays, that idiot somehow getting her phone number _again_ and calling her at all odd hours, a pot nearly falling on her head when she was helping taisho cook, a fellow actress getting ill on-set (the poor girl!), schedules being moved around, the special horror of the director's decision to keep today's film – and that wasn't even half of it! She didn't want to bother her sempai with any of it; there wasn't anything that he could really do about it, anyway.

Besides, if he offered to try to cheer her up, she might actually accept the offer he'd made two months ago, when Maria had dared him to whisper something sweet but true into "Kyoko-onee-san's" ear.

Her phone rang; she checked the caller I.D., and then answered.

…And then there was the way he'd started to address her during their daily (well, nightly) chats, further weakening her resolve _not_ to accept his offer. "Good evening, princess. How was your day?"

"Good evening, Tsuruga-san. My day…" she trailed off, not wanting to lie. She'd been evading this question successfully this past month, but something about today had snapped her resolve. The words of the gentleman from earlier resounded in her head. _Why don't you call up some of your girlfriends, or your boyfriend, for a night out on the town? You look like you need one. _No, he wasn't her boyfriend, but he _was_ a friend (he'd insisted that she consider him thusly during one of last month's chats), and it wasn't like she could really call Moko back from Taiwan just for something like this. Plus, hadn't he offered, two months ago?

"Mogami-san?" he questioned, worried by her silence.

"My day was awful, Tsuruga-san; this whole month has been absolutely terrible," she confessed, her angels cheering her on while her demons tried to close her mouth, screaming about how this could possibly grind the locks into dust.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Mogami-san. Would talking about it help? I'm more than willing to listen." …_even if I am confused as to why you didn't mention this any other night that we talked._

His sympathy, and his sincerity, was obvious to her in his voice – she knew him so well by now that she need not even look at him to tell his emotions.

"Actually, I… I was wondering something," she whispered, the part of her that had snapped egging her on.

"Yes?" he prompted, gently.

"Is your offer from Maria's Dare still good?"

She heard his breath hitch.

**Aaaaand cliffhanger! Are you upset with me? Be glad I didn't leave it when her phone rang. That was another option for the cut-off point. ;) **

**Don't worry, you'll find out what the offer was in the next chapter. Probably. I think.**

**I hope that you liked it! Not much action, I know, but it was necessary. Poor Kyoko had to have such a horrendous month to actually even seriously consider accepting his offer, so I needed this to set things up. Never fear; you'll get your fluff soon! ^^**


	2. What Will Occur as a Result?

…**Hello. Please don't be too mad at me for the last chapter. I just wanted you all to suffer a little, because I love you. That's the same reason I torture the characters from time to time (all the time): I love them. :)**

**I hope that you enjoy this, even if I don't own Skip Beat. I hope it lives up to your expectations!**

"Actually, I… I was wondering something," she whispered, the part of her that had snapped egging her on.

"Yes?" he prompted, gently.

"Is your offer from Maria's Dare still good?"

She heard his breath hitch.

"Tsuruga-san…?"

This time, she heard a soft intake of breath, but nothing more.

Stupid, stupid Kyoko! Of course; nothing else this accursed month had gone well, so why should this? "I-I'm so sorry. I-I should have guessed that it w-was just for the game. I'm sorry for asking. I shouldn't have taken it so – so seriously. I—"

"Kyoko?" His use of her given name, sans honorifics, was enough to stop her rambling instantly.

"…Yes?"

"Yes." Then, sensing her possible confusion, he clarified, "Yes, the offer is still good. The Dare was, after all, to whisper something 'sweet but true' to you. I am more than willing to fulfill the offer I made you that night."

"Really?" she squeaked, her grip on her cell phone tightening.

"Really," he confirmed, thankful that she could not see his highly undignified expression. "I'm glad. I'd thought that you'd forgotten about it."

"How could I forget an offer like that?" she asked, flabbergasted. "You know that something like that is—" she cut herself off, blushing.

"An offer you can't refuse, no matter how much your sense of propriety and non-imposition protests?"

"Yes," she answered, in a very small voice.

"Well, I'm glad that your desire won out this time. I must admit that I got a little too used to spoiling you during the Heel siblings. You make such fun expressions."

"Tsuruga-san!" she groaned, catching his teasing tone. "You know full well that Cain only managed to spoil Setsu so much because of that wounded puppy pout!"

He raised an eyebrow that she could not see, but sensed. "And Annabel didn't do the exact same thing to me over the phone two months ago?"

"I didn't – you couldn't see her expression!"

He chuckled. "I didn't need to, Mogami-san. I know you far too well for that."

Surprisingly, she did not protest this. "But… the offer doesn't involve being spoiled, does it? Because if it does, you know that I can't accept it. It wouldn't be proper."

The corners of his mouth twitched. "Not even if I pull Cain's wounded puppy pout?"

"Tsuruga-san!" she yelped, sounding scandalized.

"Kidding, kidding," he placated her. _For now._ "No, it doesn't involve being spoiled solely in the sense of material goods. I have other plans."

"You have it all planned already?" she asked, too amazed, fed up, and tired to worry about imposition.

"Yes. I had a few ideas floating around, and thought that they'd fit you perfectly." He'd had said ideas for quite a while prior to the offer being made, but he did not mention this.

Her grudges gave up attempting to stop the locks from being ground into powder and instead fled to the Kyoko meeting room to huddle with Mio. "I'm honored, Tsuruga-san," she murmured.

She heard his breath hitch again; his voice was suddenly nervous. "So when would you like to meet for this? Do you have anything tomorrow?"

"No, but I'm sure that you're busy. I don't want to interrupt your schedule."

He mentally went through his schedule, and decided that his interviews and single photo shoot could be rearranged if he mentioned to his manager that Kyoko was involved. "You know that my schedule is always light on Sundays. In fact, I actually have the day off tomorrow. I'd love to spend it with you."

"But you should rest on your day off!"

"Trust me, Mogami-san," he smiled, "I'll have enough time to rest afterwards. Besides, you wouldn't want my planning to go to waste, right?"

"Of course not! But—"

"And," he added, his voice softer, "I hate seeing you upset. You said that you've had a bad month, right? Let me cheer you up – at least as a friend. Okay?"

"Okay," she smiled, not daring to hope what his 'at least' could imply. "Thank you, Tsuruga-san. What time should I meet you, and where?"

Ren quickly began organizing his thoughts from the ball of pure ecstasy that had arrived with the unnamable emotion in her voice. "I'll pick you up at eight thirty tomorrow morning, and we'll go to part one."

"Th-Thank you," she stuttered, having sensed his heavenly smile even through the phone. Her grudges hid behind Mio to avoid the deathly rays.

"As much as I'd love to continue our chat tonight, we both will need to be fully rested for our day tomorrow," he smiled, scarcely refraining himself from using the word 'date.' "So I suppose that this is goodnight, Mogami-san. Sleep well."

"Goodnight, Tsuruga-san. Sweet dreams." She shut her phone and sank down onto her futon, her exhaustion suddenly too overwhelming for her to even question her acceptance of his offer.

He waited, as always, to hear the click of her shutting her phone before he shut his. He beamed at it for a moment before realizing with a groan what he would now have to do. Opening his phone, he chanted 'she's worth it' in his head in an endless loop as he dialed.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Yashiro… I know that this is short notice, but could you clear my day tomorrow? It's urgent."

"This has something to do with Kyoko-chan." It wasn't even a question – it was a statement, and a hideously gleeful one at that.

"You can't possibly know that," he sighed, thinking that he might need to call Kyoko back later to calm his frustrations enough to sleep.

There was a silence on the other end of the line.

He sighed heavily, and admitted, "Fine. Tomorrow, if my schedule is clear, I will be spending the entire day with Mogami-san." He paused, and then added, "At her request."

The responding squeal nearly deafened him, and he was quite glad that he'd pulled the phone away from his ear as soon as he'd finished speaking. "You have a _date_ with Kyoko-chan? She asked you out?"

"I never said that I had a date with her. She simply inquired if an offer I made her some time back was still valid, and I replied that it was. The word 'date' never entered the conversation." He could imagine Yashiro wilting with disappointment at this news.

"You are _so_ boring."

"So I've been told."

"I'll fix your schedule."

"I appreciate it."

"I expect to hear more about this offer, you realize."

"If things go as well as I hope, I expect that you'll be able to get her to tell you."

This thought was a bit too exciting for Yashiro, who was of course (incorrectly) inferring from this that Kyoko would be falling into Ren's arms. Ren was consequently (and, thankfully, briefly) subjected to a very loud series of cheers before Yashiro abruptly hung up to go arrange things. Not fifteen minutes later, he called back to inform Ren that things were ready to go. Ren thanked him and hung up before the older man could tease him any further.

Japan's top actor sighed and leaned his head against the back of his couch after making another few phone calls to set things up – and dealing with a few more (only slightly less exuberant) well-wishers. Even with all the teasing he was going to suffer after this, he could not keep the grin from his features. She'd accepted his offer. He'd hoped, yes, that she would take him up on it – it was an offer that was right up her alley, of course – but he had never actually expected her to accept. Even if it wasn't technically a date, he still was going to be able to spend the day with Kyoko and – contrary to what he may have told her – he was going to spoil her as she deserved to be spoiled, if anything of what he'd managed to hear about her month from various sources was true. He would put his best effort into cheering her up and following through on his offer in the process.

Kyoko turned over in her sleep, her mind giving her a dream that was actually a two-month-old memory….

_He shifted tentatively closer to her, placing one hand on the side of her away from him so that he engulfed her without trapping her. He swallowed and leaned close to her, eyes shutting when his lips nearly brushed against her ear. He murmured to her, softly, so that none but she could hear what he said._

_ Lory and Maria watched, intrigued. Kyoko – who had fully returned from Annabel while Ren was in his stupor – sat, slightly stiff, in Ren's almost-embrace. While at first downcast from something she refused to name, her eyes were soon lit with curiosity at his murmur. _

_ "Of course, what of them?"_

_ Ren murmured softly once more, his lips now brushing against her earlobe._

_ Kyoko's face grew pink – though from his words or his touch, the observers could not be certain (except for Sebastian, of course, who is Sebastian and therefore hears all). But even they could not miss the look of absolute longing that she gave him as he drew away, one that nearly snapped his control and completely melted Lory's heart – a look of longing tinged with something she refused to name, a dark something broken only by the purest light… a something that he could not yet give her, and a something that she was not yet ready to receive. _

The next morning dawned very early for an over-excited Ren… well, if he was going to be honest, an over-excited Kuon. He very much doubted that the gentleman Tsuruga Ren would display quite so much glee over the thought of spending a day in the sole company of a single girl… but this was Kyoko, and all rules he otherwise held dear seemed to fall away when she was involved. Today, he sensed, was going to be a good day – a day she deserved. He rolled out of bed and hurried off to get ready. He had hours before he was due to pick her up, but he was too excited to sit still. A bird chirped on his windowsill; today would be a good day, indeed.

Kyoko gave a soft moan and rolled off of her futon, landing face-down on the floor. She rubbed her eyes sleepily; this did not bode well for her day… again. She'd slept well, which was a relief; over the past month, she'd gotten very used to functioning on little sleep. Perhaps, she mused, that was the only good thing that had come of this month. Sitting up and stretching, she glanced at her clock: eight fifteen. She stared at it for a few seconds, wondering why she had the nagging feeling that she really ought to be panicking right now. She knew that she had the day off… so why did she currently have the dull ache that preceded her full-on panic mode? Surely she hadn't made plans with Moko-san… she would've remembered! Slowly, she got to her feet and began dressing – she wore a pair of jeans and a light blue top, nothing special - as she knew that, once she remembered why she ought to be panicking, she would want to be dressed. After hurriedly running a brush through her hair and applying a thin coat of make-up (it seemed the proper thing to do in the face of unknown plans), she scampered downstairs for breakfast. Perhaps a bit of food would help her remember what she'd forgotten.

It was eight twenty-nine.

Ren glanced at the clock in his car and hurriedly scrambled out. He would _not_ be late for this, no matter how nervous he might be. Today was about Kyoko; yes, it hurt a bit that she hadn't told him earlier about her awful month, but he understood that she simply hadn't wanted to worry him. That was why he would spend the day treating her as she ought to be treated: Like a princess. He entered the restaurant, which had just opened for breakfast but had not yet acquired any customers, in time to see Kyoko scurrying down the stairs and into the kitchen. He smiled at the sight of her.

Kyoko froze, having suddenly remembered what had been planned for the day. He – _he_ – was here to pick her up to kindly fulfill his offer, and she hadn't even had breakfast yet! She was a terrible person – how could she forget about_ that_? Hadn't she been agonizing over whether or not to accept his offer for two months? She pushed the heels of her hands against her eyes, willing herself to remain calm.

Taisho, noting her discomfort, stepped out of the kitchen (recently sharpened knife in hand) and simply stood there, his gaze leveled on Ren. Ren bowed and gave a standard greeting, then explained that he was there to pick up Mogami-san for their day out.

"She hasn't had breakfast yet," taisho stated simply, without prompting or self-introduction. His tone implied that Kyoko would not be allowed to go without breakfast simply because someone was here to pick her up.

"In that case, I'm willing to wait for her or take her out for breakfast – whichever she prefers," Ren nodded, and then caught sight of Kyoko now peeking cautiously around the edge of the doorway, face pink with embarrassment. He smiled. "Good morning, Mogami-san."

"Good morning," she returned, stepping into the doorway and bowing. "I'm really sorry for not being ready yet! I woke up late and was disoriented and—"

"It's fine," he soothed, as taisho's grip on his knife tightened. "Would you prefer to eat here, or elsewhere? Either is fine by me."

"Oh – um, here, please. I'll go make myself something quickly."

"No need to rush. We're on a very loose schedule today," he assured her, but she rushed back into the kitchen anyway.

"What are your plans for the day?" the taisho asked abruptly, as soon as Kyoko was out of earshot.

"My plans consist mainly of taking her out and treating her as she ought to be treated," came the honest, if slightly awkward, reply. "We'll probably spend some time in the park as well, so that she can commune with her faeries."

The taisho raised an eyebrow, and Ren fumbled with his words.

"I mean – she says that they're there, I can't see them – so I thought she'd like to… er…. I'd just like her to have fun today."

The taisho's knuckles were no longer white. Ren took that to be a good sign.

"The day is my treat, of course, though she'll probably argue with me over that." A nervous chuckle escaped his throat. Yes, he'd met his girlfriends' parents in the past, but none were quite so… intimidating. And, he noted sadly, Kyoko wasn't his girlfriend.

"Of course, if she has something else she'd prefer to do, the plan will change accordingly."

The taisho eyed him for a moment longer, nodded once, and then made eye contact. During that brief moment, he ran his fingers lovingly along the blade of his knife, not needing to speak to get the message across loud and clear: If you hurt her in any way, your remains will be the perfect size for stir-fry.

Well, maybe not that exact wording, but Ren has a rather active imagination, and the effect was the same.

Okami-san smiled at Kyoko, who was eating her breakfast as quickly as possible without choking. "Relax, Kyoko-chan. I'm sure that your date won't mind waiting for you to finish breakfast."

The girl froze mid-bite. "He's not my date, okami-san. We're simply colleagues spending the day together."

The older female, having glimpsed the smile Ren gave Kyoko when he saw her earlier, clucked in amusement. "Whatever you say, dear. Just let me take a picture before you go, alright?"

"Um… yes," Kyoko replied between bites, a bit confused but willing to please nonetheless.

"Good girl," okami-san smiled fondly. "Be sure to have fun today."

Kyoko finally allowed herself – despite her constant fretting over her decision while making breakfast – to smile in anticipation. Today, she had a chance at a fairytale. "I will."

"Do you know what you two are going to be doing today?" okami-san inquired, rummaging through the cupboards.

Kyoko gave a soft squeak. "W-We're probably just going to walk around a park. I-I don't really… know…."

"He made the plans, I take it?" Smiling, the elder woman pulled a camera from the cupboard.

Kyoko nodded, ate the final bite of her breakfast, and stood to wash her dishes, only to be shooed away by her landlord. "But I—"

"Have a very handsome man waiting to take you out. Go finish getting ready. I'll take care of things here," came the smiling rebuff. "Now shoo." The budding actress nodded, thanked her, and scurried up the stairs to gather what she would need for the day. Okami-san, giddy over her almost-daughter's non-date, walked out to stop her husband from scaring the poor boy more than necessary. "Hello," she bowed, having reached the men.

"Good morning," Ren bowed in return; had he not been an actor, he would have been visibly nervous. "I hope that the two of you do not mind my borrowing Mogami-san for the day."

"Nonsense, it's perfectly fine," okami-san smiled; her husband's face contradicted her words. "She needs to go have fun more often. All the poor girl seems to do is work."

"Get her home at a decent time," her husband growled, hand still caressing his knife.

Ren swallowed. "Of course, sir."

"I'm sorry for making you wait!" Kyoko yelped, hurrying back into the room.

"It's quite alright, Mogami-san. I wasn't waiting long," he assured her, giving her a soft smile. _She looks even more beautiful than usual today._

Her remaining demons, huddled and feeding off of Mio, cringed from the feel of it, but did not die. Mio, they decided, was their new leader.

Kyoko relaxed visibly; honestly, what had the girl expected him to do? "Shall we get going, then?"

She nodded, suddenly shy and mentally berating herself for imposing to the point of taking his offer seriously.

"But first, stand together and smile!" okami-san ordered, holding up her camera and ushering them closer. "There – oh, come now! Pretend you like each other. Smile!"

Her words, of course, had quite an effect on both people involved. Kyoko's cheeks had flushed, and Ren had to work very hard to avoid any dangerous expressions from crossing his features. They dutifully shifted closer, however, and smiled for the camera. They then bowed their good-byes and left.

"Why?" taisho inquired, finally sheathing his knife as he and his wife returned to the kitchen.

"I'm sure that they'll want some recording of their first date eventually," she smiled. "Even though Kyoko-chan kept insisting that it wasn't a date."

Taisho nodded his approval. "What did she call it?" he inquired, pecking his wife on the cheek before turning to his cooking.

"Colleagues spending the day together," she chuckled, pecking her husband's cheek in return. "Although I think that her friend – that's Tsuruga Ren, yes? – thought quite differently. Did he tell you their plans?"

"He's taking her out and treating her like she ought to be treated," taisho grunted, chopping meat very enthusiastically.

"As she deserves, especially after this month. She's been looking so worn lately."

An affirmative grunt and slightly less enthusiastic chopping met these words.

"She'll be fine with him, dear. He's the one who drops her off when it gets too late for her to bike home, remember?"

"She'd better be fine."

Okami-san smiled. "You're always so protective of your loved ones, dear."

A nod.

"Thank you."

"Welcome."

And they settled to preparing the restaurant for the day.

Outside of Darumaya, Ren opened the door of the car for Kyoko and grandly waved her inside. "My lady," he smiled, eyes sparkling with fun, anticipation, and mischief, "your carriage awaits."

***slowly peeks around* **

…**Hi. Um, yeah… so, no reveal of the whisper. Author's prerogative. Sorry (not really), but it'll be more fun this way (for me) and more challenging to write. Please don't throw too many things at me.**

**I've hinted at it, though. Any guesses?**

**In reply to a guest review… I have no clue how long this is going to be. -_- There's at least one more chapter (obviously – I wouldn't just leave it **_**there**_**; I'm mean, but not that mean)… beyond that, who knows? I might have a spotlight with Yashiro, Kanae, Lory, and/or Maria finding out about their non-date. That would be fun. :D**

**I love taisho and okami-san. They don't get nearly enough love in this fandom!**

**Please review! You can yell at me there. ;)**


	3. What Beauty Is in the Morning Light?

**I'm back~! Did you miss me? No?**

**Fine, then. Did you miss the story? **

**Yay. Well, I'm sure that you know by now that I don't own Skip Beat. The manga would be much fluffier if I did. **

**Please enjoy, and refrain from throwing things at the authoress until after you've read this chapter. ^^**

Outside of Darumaya, Ren opened the door of the car for Kyoko and grandly waved her inside. "My lady," he smiled, eyes sparkling with fun, anticipation, and mischief, "your carriage… awaits."

Kyoko met his eyes; Tsuruga-san was acting… carefree. He seemed younger, somehow; she'd rarely seen him like this, but had enjoyed the few times she had. _Perhaps,_ she thought, allowing a small smile to creep across her face, _today won't be a disaster after all._ He beamed even more widely in return; she averted her eyes to avoid going blind – and noticed the decal on the side of his car: A pumpkin rolling and turning into a carriage.

Ren watched with fond amusement as Kyoko descended into la-la land at the sight of the small Cinderella-esque image. He'd known that she'd like it, and so had ordered it online in case of an event such as today. If he had his way, she would spend the entire day in a similar – if not heightened – state of joy, and so would be distracted to the point of not worrying about imposing on him. This, anyway, was his hope.

Of course, Kyoko is Kyoko, and therefore shatters hopes. At the sound of his soft laugh, she realized that he'd been holding the door for her for quite some time. This, in turn, reminded her of the whole of her self-dubbed idiocy in accepting his (again, Kyoko-dubbed) kind but kidding offer. She then spiraled down into despair, and would have doubtless gone into a dogeza had Ren not caught her shoulders.

"My lady," he began, pulling her out of her pit of despair and self-loathing with the odd form of address, "I have sworn an oath to thee, and shall enjoy its fulfillment. Will ye yet rob me of my joy and sworn duty?"

She gulped, flustered as much by his words as by his touch. Some part of her mind (Setsu, no doubt) commented that his words were awfully close to Cain's excuse for spoiling his little sister. "O-Of course not, sir knight."

He grinned at this, and then handed her into the 'carriage.' After shutting her door and sliding into his seat, he inquired of her, "Would ye first like to visit thine subjects, milady, or would ye prefer to don attire more befitting your station prior greeting them?"

She seemed genuinely thrown by this question, and simply gazed at him for a moment with her mouth open. Then, as if realizing how ridiculous (ridiculously cute, in Ren's mind) she looked, she shut it abruptly. "I…have no preference, sir knight."

"Then may I suggest," he paused, carefully measuring her reactions to this odd play, "that we first go among thine subjects? They might be less intimidated to see thee in thine casual wear than in thine royal finery."

She nodded her approval, perplexed. He beamed at her – her grudges hissed from their vantage point behind Mio – and began driving the 'carriage.' Thus far, she seemed to have accepted his actions. He was a bit surprised, yes, that she had dubbed him a knight; he wouldn't complain, though, as it gave him some material with which to work. After all, in relation to her, a knight was…. He grinned as something occurred to him. Yes, this would work quite well, indeed.

He hadn't planned all of this himself, of course. Yes, he'd had some ideas previously, put it all together, and organized everything, but he'd had quite a bit of help along the way. Yashiro, for example, had been extremely helpful – even if he was, and would remain, utterly unaware of this. Over the past two months, Ren had paid careful attention to what his manager said concerning Kyoko – more careful than usual, that is – and had made mental notes of what useful ideas his manager actually had. Maria had also been helpful; one day, he'd casually brought up the subject of Kyoko in one of their conversation, and the young girl had gone off on a long tangent about her trip into onee-san's la-la land. He'd worked as much of it as he could into their day together – obviously, there was nothing _he_ could do about her 'best friend' set of fantasies – and had been intrigued by a section Maria had said was roped off with caution tape. The only information Maria had given him about this was that there was a tall, awfully familiar figure behind the caution signs. She'd pierced him with a long, meaningful stare at this point, as if to give him a hint. He'd refused to let himself hope – after all, he should know better than to expect anything romantic from Kyoko by now.

Key word being 'should.' Hence, his very long planning period and several excursions to Disney websites in search of date ideas (even if she vigorously denied it and he feebly attempted to deny it, that was really what their outing most closely resembled). This bit of his browser history had been, unfortunately, discovered by Yashiro. Ren had just refrained himself from throttling the man only by repeating to himself that he was unlikely to ever find another manager as capable as Yashiro… but only just.

It really was amazing, he mused as he drove, how neatly Kyoko had him wrapped around her little finger. If she knew, and ever chose to take advantage of it (though, knowing her, she wouldn't even dream to do it – but her characters had, and would do it if they saw fit), he knew that he would be powerless to refuse her every whim. He already was, wasn't he? It would just get worse if she actually dared to consciously pull at his heartstrings. If only she knew….

Shaking his head, he pulled into a parking space in front of a park. He then pulled his baseball cap on his head, and offered a floppy white sunhat to her. She smiled and thanked him for it as they got out of the car, commenting that she liked the spring green color of its ribbon. He wondered if it reminded her of Corn's eyes, or if she just liked the shade for its own sake. He was not sure which answer he preferred.

"My lady?" he inquired, after he had opened the door for her.

She paused in her steps, and looked back at him. He was offering her his arm. "Of course, sir knight. I would be honored."

As she tucked her hand into the crook of his arm, he replied honestly, "The honor is all mine."

She ducked her head, not quite sure how to respond to this, and they began their walk through the park in silence. After a few minutes, she glanced up at him in time to catch him watching her. He grinned sheepishly at her, and then gestured her along a short path through the trees. Intrigued, she led the way along the path, eyes sparkling when she recognized the clearing. They'd come here a little while back for a bottled water commercial; this was where she'd spent some lovely time communing with the faeries. The faeries, now, fluttered out to greet their friends and landed on their arms. Several settled atop Ren's head. Kyoko giggled at this, and explained to Ren what was going on when he gazed at her with questions in his eyes. Then, to his pleasant surprise and her positive delight, the faeries elected to grant Kyoko's wish of Ren being able to see the faeries, too – for that day, at least.

"Breathtaking," Ren whispered, watching Kyoko twirl around with her loyal 'subjects.' The faeries, upon hearing Ren's explanation, were more than happy to help him help their dear human friend.

"I know! I'm so glad that they've let you see them for the day," Kyoko gushed, having temporarily forgotten all about her noble role. "They're gorgeous, and so fun – have you tried dancing with them yet? They're wonderful dancers, and always help you cheer up!"

He grinned and took her outstretched hand, allowing himself to be pulled into her faerie dance. He hadn't really been talking about the faeries, but she didn't need to know that just yet. He didn't want to spoil her fun even more than he ached to tell her how he truly saw her. That would come later; he could wait. For now, he would spin with her and play the loyal subject – which he was, of course – ever her loyal subject. Now, if only he could get her to believe him when he told her….

They stayed among the faeries for quite some time, dancing and playing odd little games (like Prod the Frog and Spin-Twirl-Flick, for example) until Kyoko finally collapsed into the dandelion patch from exhaustion. Ren joined her, silently admiring the fact that she'd lasted as long as she had at full energy. The faeries settled in among the dandelions, taking care to avoid the ones that had gone to seed. Kyoko lay back in a halo of these, smiling contentedly as her 'subjects' sang songs of the fae to her. Humming along as if she'd known these songs from a young age – which, he realized, she probably had – she rolled onto her stomach and began gazing at the dandelions gone to seed.

"What are you looking for?" he asked softly, after a few moments.

"I'm looking for a good wishing dandelion," she whispered back, never tearing her gaze from the plants. "I… have an important wish to make, so I need to find a good one."

"I'll help," he offered softly, but she waved his offer away.

"It's fine. I'm sure that you have your own wish to attend to—ah!" she plucked a dandelion triumphantly. He watched, entranced, as she closed her eyes – and then let out a large breath, scattering dandelion seeds into the air. Not a single one yet clung to the stalk.

"What did you wish for?" He plucked, and then blew, his own dandelion stalk. It may not have been perfect, but he really had no way to tell, as he was not an expert like Kyoko.

She sat up, looking scandalized. "I can't tell you that!"

"Why not?" he inquired, bemused. He was leaning on his elbow, so he had to look up to see her. He appreciated the new angle as she flapped her hands around nervously.

"Because if – if I tell you, my wish won't come true!"

"We wouldn't want that," he rejoined, sitting up fully and dusting off stray dandelion seeds. "But have you dreamed of faeries lately?"

"Just last night, actually. There were a few in my dream, just popping in and out," her voice grew quieter at the end of her sentence, and her cheeks flared. "Why?"

"Well, then your wish will come true," he informed her seriously.

Her brow furrowed. "Huh?"

"It's been said that your wishes will come true when you least expect it when you dream of faeries," he explained. The surrounding faeries nodded from their yellow seats.

Her eyes sparkled. "Really?"

"Really," he grinned. "But just to be on the safe side, I won't ask you if you won't ask me. Deal?"

"Deal!" She extended her pinky finger, and they shook. He then switched his grip to her entire hand, and pulled her to her feet. She was thankful when the motion did not bring her crashing against him, as she was not sure if her poor heart could take that at the moment. The past few hours – glancing at her watch, she realized that their park excursion had taken up the whole morning – had been something out of her most wonderful dreams. It was with a small sigh on her part that they bid farewell to the tired faeries, and left for lunch.

Upon his asking what she would like to eat, her response was, "Anything but frog legs."

"Then how about eyeballs?" he joked, holding the car door open for her.

"What type?" she shot back with a smile, sliding into her seat with a word of thanks.

He appeared to think for a moment as he walked around to his side of the car and got in. "Egg, perhaps?"

She looked at him, perplexed. "Egg eyes…?"

"Yes, yellow ones." He nodded, pulling onto the road.

"I've never heard of those before," she murmured, after wracking her brain for any glimmer of recognition.

"I read about them somewhere," Ren commented, referring to a manga he'd read out of sheer boredom while waiting for a costar to arrive on-set. "Apparently they are delicious, especially when fried."

"I look forward to them, then!" she beamed. A few minutes of comfortable silence followed, and then she spoke again. "Thank you."

"For what?" he inquired, pulling into the parking lot of a restaurant.

"For making the offer and keeping it, for giving me such a wonderful morning, and for – for always taking such good care of me. I really don't deserve your kindness." She ducked her head.

He parked the car, and asked softly, "Do you really think that I'd do anything for you if you didn't deserve it?"

"Yes, because you're a good person," she nodded, unbuckling her seat belt and making to open her door.

He stilled her motions with a hand, and hurried out of his own door. He then appeared on her side of the car and opened the door for her. "I wouldn't do anything for you if you didn't deserve it, Mogami-san." He offered her a hand out, which she simply stared at. "You deserve to be treated properly."

She blinked.

"Won't you let me?" he inquired, hand still held out to her.

She stared at him for a moment longer, gaze flickering between his eyes like a caffeinated butterfly's wings, searching for any mistruth. When she found none – only an emotion she refused to name lurked behind his sincerity – she tentatively took his hand and allowed him to help her out of the car. He celebrated his small victory even as she released his hand and they made their way into the restaurant – after shutting and locking the car, of course, as it's utterly moronic to leave a car unlocked in a busy city (or anywhere, really).

Kyoko glanced around their surroundings and raised an eyebrow at Ren. "Why would a family restaurant serve eyeball fry?"

He beamed at her, and offered her his arm. "You'll see."

She took the proffered appendage, and allowed him to lead her to a table. He spoke quietly to the waiter – too quietly for her to hear, she noted – who nodded and winked. Kyoko spent the next few minutes cheerfully (her morning had been far too wonderful for a mystery to upset her) attempting to wheedle a clue out of Ren. And though his grin slowly grew to resemble that of a certain disappearing cat's, he released not a bit of information. Fortunately for him and his game, it did not even occur to Kyoko to use puppy eyes; that would've cracked him, and his surprise for her would've been ruined.

After a short while of Kyoko's failed hint-retrieval, the waiter appeared with two covered plates. "Eyeball fry for two!" he announced in a voice that sounded as if a frog had swallowed its own tongue, and then attempted to speak Swahili. He made several flourishing movements, placed the plates upon the table, and whipped off the lids to reveal –

"Hamburg steak with fried egg on top!" Kyoko gasped, eyes sparkling.

"The yolk is the pupil of the eye, so the egg is the eye," Ren explained, batting a few stray sparkles away from his lunch. "It's your favorite, right?"

"Yes, but how—?"

"You told me," he shrugged with a smile. "When you were my manager, we ate it here, so I thought that this place would be safe. I'd have tried to cook it for you myself, but I'd probably set the kitchen on fire if I even attempted to cook something like that."

This last comment made Kyoko laugh, which was good – she'd been stuck somewhere between her heart's danger zone and simple awe at her sempai's memory and kindness, and had not known how to respond. Still giggling, she dug into her favorite dish. Had Ren had his way, he would have simply sat there and watched her eat; but that was not to be.

"Don't you like the Hamburg steak, Tsuruga-san?" Kyoko inquired after a silence filled mostly with sounds of her chewing and Ren's occasional happy chuckle. "You haven't touched a bite of yours."

Ren jerked slightly, realizing how long he'd been wearing a love-struck smile while watching her eat. "Huh? Oh, no," he assured her, picking up his utensils, "it's perfectly fine. I just got a bit lost in thought. My apologies."

"Oh, it's fine!" Kyoko blurted, dropping her utensils onto her lap by accident in her frenzied fluster. A rather startled squawk followed this occurrence. To Ren's credit, he was able to keep a relatively straight face about this, and even began eating without Kyoko (expressly) telling him to do so. He even managed to avoid choking on his "eyeball fry" when Kyoko asked, "What were you thinking about, if you don't mind my asking?"

No, he did not choke; yes, he froze temporarily. After all, Kyoko wouldn't exactly take it calmly if she was suddenly told that her sempai had been seriously planning to bring their children to this restaurant one day, would she? (The authoress asks the reader to take a moment and truly appreciate how utterly hopeless Ren is.)

"Tsuruga-san?" Kyoko inquired, noticing the sudden tenseness in his muscles, but also noting the utter lack of angry sparkles.

Ren shook himself slightly, and then smiled to reassure her (this worked, as it was not his gentlemanly smile of doom and gloom and sadness – and sparkles). "I was just going over our plans for the rest of the day, my lady. Please forgive my momentary mental lapse."

"Oh, but of course, sir knight!" Kyoko replied, only slightly thrown by their return to the noblewoman and the knight. As she continued eating, she asked, "And what, pray tell, are these plans to be?"

He took a few more bites of his own food before answering, "Why, we still have not had thee clad in garments befitting thine rank."

She raised her eyebrow, and took another bite of her food. "Garments, sir knight?"

"Yes, milady," he nodded, beaming. "Garments befitting a princess like yourself."

After a few moments of desperate internal struggle and several mental reminders of what the offer had been, Kyoko simply stated, "I would like for our luncheon to be finished before we do anything else."

He nodded, and then raised his glass to her. "As you wish."

**Hello. :D **

**So… yeah… no complete reveal yet. ;) Feel free to scream and yell at me in a review.**

**What do you think of the story thus far? Yay/nay? Are the characters okay? Do you like where this is going, and how I'm handling it?**

**Did you catch the references? :D There's one to a manga and one to a book/movie. :D**

**I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! See you again (somewhat) soon!**


	4. What Will Come of the Afternoon?

**Hello, my lovelies! :D Was the last chapter fluffy enough for you, or is more fluff required? **

**Part of me hopes that you want more fluff, because that's what you're probably going to get. ;D **

**I hope that you enjoy this, despite my not owning Skip Beat!**

Ren nodded, and then raised his glass to her. "As you wish."

Kyoko blinked, and Ren realized that she would not know what he was referencing. Making a mental note to convince her to watch the movie version with him as soon as possible, he resumed eating. This action made the tension evaporate from her shoulders, and she smiled at him. He beamed in return, although the glow was slightly diminished when he saw her wince from the bright onslaught. She shook her head, as if to dispel a stray thought, and turned the conversation back to the faeries.

"Thank you for taking me to see them, by the way," she murmured almost shyly. "I haven't been able to go there on my own much lately, since work and such have gotten busier. I'm glad for more work of course – I love being able to act out new roles – but I do miss the faeries when we're apart for so long."

"You're quite welcome. I enjoyed our visit as well. It was quite…" he paused, as if searching for the proper word. "Uplifting. The visit was quite uplifting."

"I agree! The morning made up for this entire month," she proclaimed earnestly, earning a smile from him.

"I'm glad to hear that, but I must ask: What exactly happened this past month?" And so, with a combination of careful wording and a slight wounded puppy expression, Kyoko presented an (judiciously edited) account of her horrendous month. Ren spent most of the account wincing in sympathy and offering words of comfort whenever Kyoko stopped to take a bite of her food. By the end, though, Kyoko had started laughing – some of the events, like the near-death-by-rubber-duck experience, were truly scrapes into which only she could get, and were laughable for it. Even Ren chuckled at some of these events; honestly, how on earth could she get both of her feet stuck in the same bucket? Two different buckets, he could understand; but the _same_ bucket? It was ridiculous. Of course, Kyoko is Kyoko, and therefore a magnet for all types of chaos, so he really shouldn't be too surprised… keyword being _shouldn't._ He was, and so he laughed with her as she turned her awful month into the comedy of legends.

Her story (sans Bo and certain sensitive issues) carried the conversation through the rest of their meal, and sufficiently distracted her so that he could pay the bill. She still protested, of course, but by that point it was too late for her to do anything about it. Instead, she thanked him, and he handed her back into the 'carriage' with a grin.

"Where are we going now?" she inquired as they buckled their seatbelts.

"Why, to get thee into thine attire, milady," he stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yes, but where shall we get it?"

"Ah…" he released a small, mischievous grin. "That would be telling."

"Indeed it would," she concurred, "but I must admit to my curiosity. You have already, after all, completed thine oath tenfold."

"Nay," he refuted, "I have completed but a third of mine oath. The day is yet young."

"And time shall not be wasted if ye but tell me, sir knight, where we doth go." She was smiling; how she adored speaking like someone out of a fairy tale! That was, after all, what the day had been so far, hadn't it? A perfect fairy tale. _I never want this magic to end, even if my heart can barely take it._

"Ah, milady, that would be telling, telling indeed!" His voice was tinged with laughter, as if he was only partway through telling his favorite joke… which, in a way, he was.

"Telling? What is wrong with it being telling?"

"Nothing, I pray, for telling it shall be."

Kyoko sighed slightly, and admitted defeat; it was obvious that she would get no further information from the man about their destination. Instead, she inquired, "But what of you, sir knight? Will thou also be garbed in a way more befitting thine station?"

"Of course, milady," he assured her. "I would not dream of allowing thee to go without a properly attired escort. It would be unseemly." He had guessed, correctly, that Kyoko would prefer to have company during this next section of their day. Besides – this way, if she protested cost, he could explain that he enjoyed his role of a knight fulfilling an oath, so he'd wanted costumes for them to match. Part of him suspected, though, that this would not be too much of a problem… he'd probably be unable to get her out of la-la land for any measurable amount of time once she was properly attired.

"That is good to hear," she responded, at length. He sent up a feeble wish to be able to read her mind. His wish went unnoticed, and gave birth to a wish-nick floating on the breeze. They settled into a comfortable silence, broken only when he told her to open the glove box and take out the CD with her name on it.

"This one?" she asked, popping the otherwise unmarked CD out of its jewel case.

He glanced over at it; they were at a red light. "Yes. Go ahead and put it in. I hope you like it."

She did as he bid, and gasped with delight as a familiar tune began playing.

He grinned. "I take it that you do like it."

"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed softly, so as to communicate her enthusiasm without drowning out the music. "I adore Disney movies, so of course I like the songs. They're so well-done, even if many of them concern… concern…" she trailed off, and allowed herself to leave the sentence unfinished, instead opting to sing along with the CD.

Ren wondered if he should be celebrating the fact that she had not outright cursed the word, but instead allowed herself to trail off and sing about it indirectly. Yes, he decided, he should be celebrating; it was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. He pulled into the parking lot, and waited for the song to finish before shutting off the car. Then, hurrying out of and around the car, he opened Kyoko's door for her. "We have arrived, milady."

Kyoko thanked him and allowed him to hand her out of the car – and then she caught sight of the sign on the building, causing her jaw to drop.

"Is something the matter?" he inquired, tone a bit odd with barely suppressed glee.

"Telling?" she choked, pointing at the sign, which indeed proclaimed that the building was Telling: Costume and Makeover Shop Extraordinaire. "That would be _Telling_?"

"Indeed, milady," he replied, now laughing in short bursts as she subconsciously took his arm, still staring in shock at the sign. "Did I not say that it would be Telling?"

"But I – you – oh, never mind," she giggled, realizing how ridiculous the whole thing was. "Did you choose this one just for that joke?"

"In part, yes," he admitted with a sheepish grin, "but they're also very discreet, and do good work. The president often hires their services, and Woods-san trained a few of them personally. I would have preferred to have her help today, but she said that the president required her services for something."

"They were trained by Muse-sama?" Kyoko gasped, effectively diverted from the pun. "Then they must be wonderful!" She then proceeded to expound upon the excellent qualities of Jelly Woods, leaving Ren to stare at her openly (she never noticed much when expounding upon someone's good traits). Really, she didn't even need the makeover; she was already more than prepared to take up her 'rightful position.' He chuckled softly after he had finished memorizing, once more, her beauty, and led her inside. Her happy rant broke off when they were greeted just inside the door.

"Welcome to Telling!" A rather young-looking girl bounced up to them and bowed. "You two are the R-treatment, right?"

Ron nodded while Kyoko simply looked perplexed.

The girl bounced some more, understanding a portion of the situation. "Oh, it's a surprise for you? You lucky girl! Come on, let's go get you all dolled up in your proper attire. I'm sure that your escort has something wonderful planned." With yet another bounce, she turned to Ren, and sent him down a corridor to the left, where a young man and a motherly-looking woman awaited him. She then turned back to Kyoko, linked their arms, and led her through a doorway on their right.

Kyoko gaped at the costumes stuffed into the rooms they passed, and nearly fainted from pleasure when she saw the contents of one of them.

Her companion giggled again, and bounced as they walked. "You've got the house specialty coming your way! I can't wait for my R-treatment – it's usually just a service we offer, but it's also a gift commemorating your first anniversary of working here. Mine's in two months, so I'm really psyched. _And_ I get to help with yours today! This is fabulous."

"What exactly is the R-treatment?" Kyoko inquired, snapping back to reality.

"Ah, ah, ah!" the apprentice of the witch tutted, waving a finger at Kyoko. "We've been given express orders to not let you see yourself or let you know what it is until your escort's ready and in the room. He wants to see your reaction. I wish I had a man like him," she sighed, and threw open the doors to a room at the end of the hall before Kyoko could respond.

Her denials of her having Ren in any interpretation of the phrase died in her throat at the glorious sight before her. It was a make-up room, yes, but one unlike anything she'd ever seen – including the ones that had been used during Truth or Dare in the Takarada mansion! To have the president outdone in something was… unthinkable, amazing, breathtaking, astounding, and completely capable of derailing Kyoko's train of thought. She went into happy transports at the sights laid out before her, much to the amusement of the gathered make-up artists and costumes gurus. Once the transports had died down a bit, they had Kyoko sit in a chair facing away from the mirrors, and descended upon her to make her a masterpiece.

Ren changed into his outfit (sans the assistants and blindfold that Kyoko would have, to keep the surprise a surprise), noting that he would only ever do something like this for Kyoko (and, he smiled, for their possible future children); he seriously doubted that he would even take a role like this if Kyoko was not playing opposite him. To be perfectly honest, the outfit wasn't really his style, with the sole exception of the cravat, but at least it was relatively simple (it was _mostly _bereft of frills, and it was a pleasant royal blue). His mother had managed to instill within him a deep love for cravats after forcing him to watch one of the many movie adaptations of _The Scarlet Pimpernel._ It was, however, a very deeply buried love, and therefore remained dormant much of the time. He reminded himself that this was for Kyoko – the sight in the mirror was slightly embarrassing, truth be told – and stepped out to allow the stylists to finish working their magic.

His attiring was done rather quickly, even with his briefing on swordsmanship, and Ren was sent to wait in the hall of mirrors, with a warning not to enter Kyoko's room before the all clear was given upon pain of death – or something infinitely more painful, such as the president and Yashiro being shown pictures of him dressing up for Kyoko. So he waited patiently, seated comfortably as he was on a cushy, hamburger-shaped chair. He spared a moment to wonder why a chair shaped like a hamburger even existed; another to note that it was almost obnoxiously comfortable; and then a third to wonder idly if his father would like it, or if he would simply be disappointed that real hamburgers were not made that large. This uncharacteristic chain of food-related thoughts was, of course, dwelled upon solely to distract himself from Kyoko's possible responses. After all, she had accepted his offer… but had she accepted _all_ of it, or just the first half? If he were to dwell on it too much, he would surely go insane; thus, the hamburger chair thoughts.

Kyoko was doing her very best to stay still, though she was on the very brink of failing miserably. This was understandable – she was being worked on by the muse's trainees, after all, and for this mysterious R-treatment, at that! She'd already been dressed (blindfolded, with the aid of one of the muse's female protégées) in something that felt amazing, and could now feel her hair being brushed and styled – and this was after her make-up being applied by professionals. It was all she could do to keep from squealing and dancing about – she was excited, and extremely curious as to how they would be re-creating her. She released a dreamy sigh, causing her stylist to stifle a laugh. Really, she'd never expected him to go this far, even when he'd talked about getting her attire 'befitting her station.' He was, she reflected, far too nice for his own good; she didn't deserve his kindness. To think, she was being 'properly attired' on a day when she was a—

"Alright, you're done!" her stylist announced, lowering the chair so that Kyoko could stand. She bounced around to the front of the chair and took Kyoko's hands, leading the still-blindfolded girl out of the room and into the hall of mirrors. She giggled when she heard Ren's slight intake of breath at the sight of Kyoko, and bounced the girl over to stand in front of one of the largest mirrors. She motioned Ren to come stand by his match, and then scurried out Kyoko's line of sight. "Take off her blindfold!"

Ren did so, but only after gathering his wits together again – they'd completely scattered at the sight of his beloved, beaming with excitement and curiosity. Her reaction… the moment of truth. He knew that she would probably be pleased beyond belief with the theme… but would she react well to their being a matched set?

Kyoko was aware of his presence behind her, and wondered if their unknown costumes were of the same theme – and then tried to decide how she felt about that, since all of her locks had been ground to a fine powder by now. This question flew out of her mind when she heard him swallow, and then felt his hands working at the blindfold's knot.

"Close your eyes," he whispered, wanting her to see the full picture, sans blindfold. He undid the knot completely, and quickly handed the blindfold to Kyoko's stylist.

"Can I open them now?" she murmured, as if afraid of breaking a spell. He became suddenly aware of how very close behind her he was, and had a faint, quickly dashed hope that this was why she sounded breathless. Shaking off this hope – she was excited to see the costumes, he told himself – he nodded, before realizing that she couldn't see him.

"Yes." His breath caught as she slowly opened her eyes.

She stared at the girl before her, and blinked several times. _Who is that?_ She raised a hand, tentatively, to wave. The unidentified girl waved simultaneously, and Ren – standing behind the girl – smiled. Kyoko's eyes widened. _I'm… I'm really a…_

"Do you like it?" Ren inquired softly, reaching past her and tapping on the mirror's surface.

_He… he wasn't kidding about it. About any of it. He really did make me a…_

"We match," he continued, something unnamable in his eyes, "I hope you don't mind."

"N-No, of course not…but I thought you were a knight," she whispered in shy confusion, finding her voice at last, though her gaze remained, fixed and stunned, on her reflection.

"It's quite common, historically speaking, for to be both," he commented.

She nodded; she knew this, but… _Is his costume in reference to the second half of the offer? He… he couldn't be serious about that, right?_

"You're beautiful, you know." He'd spoken without meaning to, but it was too late to retract his statement – not that he truly wanted to do so. If he had his way, she would hear those words from him every day, and believe them. But now….

She snapped out of her stupor, if only to contradict him. "That's just because of the costuming and artistry of the stylists! On my own—"

"—you are beautiful, too, if only in a way that fewer people take the time to see," he smiled, still gazing at her reflection. The damage had been done; he might as well make his point known.

"But they made me into a—"

"—representation of what you always are." _…and how you deserve to be treated,_ he mentally added.

She blinked. "What I… always am?" It was ridiculous. She couldn't be a….

"Yes." He wasn't lying – she could always tell with him – or at least didn't think he was.

What could she say to that? "But…"

"Hmm?" he murmured, gently, and met her eyes in the mirror without masking his emotions.

Her brain short-circuited. "M-Magikarp!" she squeaked, looking away from his dangerous, dangerous eyes.

He blinked, bemused. "I beg your pardon?"

"I don't know how to respond to something like that!" she protested, but did not scoot away from him. Instead, her fingers clutched at the many layers of her skirt as her face grew steadily redder.

He took heart from this, and asked in a teasing tone, "So you chose to say the name of a fish Pokémon instead?"

"Yes!" she declared this almost defiantly, seizing upon the change in topic. She punctuated her surety with a nod of her head, which sent the few ringlets that had worked their way out of her small bun flying.

He met her defiant gaze in the mirror, and was able to keep a straight face for all of sixteen seconds before he began laughing, almost doubling over. Really, she was just too much. How on earth was he supposed to ever compete with her?

"Do you not like the R-treatment?" Kyoko's bouncy stylist inquired, a bit put out by their lack of focus.

Kyoko whirled around (almost crashing into Ren), and immediately began assuring her that she adored it with every fiber of her being. Ren, after listening to a few minutes of Kyoko's exuberant rant, was able to straighten and add that he, too, admired the work. The stylist, thus confirmed and comforted, waved them a cheery good-bye and bounced out of the room – calling a reminder to Ren that, since the arrangements had been made ahead of time (over the phone, with the aid of his credit card), they were free to go. She added, as a side note, that she hoped that they'd enjoy the costumes again – they got to keep them, after all. This left Kyoko torn between exploding from sheer pleasure from being able to keep such an outfit and being upset that Ren had spent what must have been a very considerable sum on her. Before she could make up her mind as to which, Ren caught her attention by smiling at her – and she thoroughly inspected his outfit for the first time since her blindfold had been removed.

She would _definitely_ be making a version of this for the Ren doll. He was, every inch, a prince charming – from the golden circlet atop his head to his snazzy yet sophisticated cravat, from his deep blue shirt to his deadly-looking sword to his black pressed pants and shoes. She ducked her head, her white-gloved hands smoothing her skirts, tracing the golden swirls of glitter that decorated them and dancing over the same royal blue shade that Ren's shirt boasted. One hand followed one of the swirls up onto her torso, where the fabric became a pale blue. She shifted her weight, suddenly shy, and her pseudo-glass slippers clinked against each other.

Ren rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly for a moment, wondering what on earth he was supposed to say. He glanced to his left, only to be met with the sight of his reflection, looking as awkward as he felt._ So much for being an actor. _He glanced to his right – and saw the bag he'd brought with him. Kyoko glanced up, startled, when Ren suddenly hurried away from her and across the hall. After grabbing the bag he'd brought with them (presumably to carry their street clothes), he hurried back to her, plopped the bag down on the floor, and began rummaging through it. Within moments, he'd found the object for which he searched, and straightened, keeping it out of her line of sight (no mean feat, considering that they were surrounded by mirrors).

"Milady," he began, "I now believe that it is time for me to call thee by thine proper name."

Though she blushed lightly and feared for her heart, Kyoko resumed her role. "You may, sir knight."

"Thank you." He smiled, then stepped behind her and held the object he'd purchased weeks ago above her head.

She gasped, a happy sound of half-belief. _This… is this actually happening?_

Ren then placed the tiara – a delicate silver structure with pink crystals surrounding a stone similar to Corn – on her head, and whispered, "I crown thee Princess Kyoko, ruler of _Cor Meum_ – now and forever."

Her eyes were wide, her mouth was open, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. _This really is a fairytale… and I don't ever want the magic to end._

**There you go! :D Did you like it? Were they too OoC? Was there enough fluff? Did you like Ren's slight awkwardness?**

**If you guess what the R-treatment is, I'll give you a virtual cookie! (I'd offer the reveal, but that would be telling. ;D)**

**Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. There should be one, maybe two more chapters, depending on how things flow. ^^ Stick around, though! The second half of the reveal (I will give you the word-for-word, no worries) is the less predictable part. ;)**

**By the way… in Latin, **_**Cor Meum**_** means "my heart." Just let that sink in, and then please review~!**


	5. What Promise Grows from a Simple Ride?

***does a little jig* Thank you all so much for the overwhelming love! This story has broken the fifty-review mark! :D I'm so happy! XD You all are too kind to this dull authoress. **

**Okay! *takes a deep breath* I hope that this chapter lives up to your expectations. Remember, **_**Cor Meum**_** is Latin for **_**My Heart.**_

**Okay... no longer all in italics... let's try this again.**

**Please enjoy. I do not own Skip Beat… because if I did, this would be happening in the ****manga. Prepare to drown in fluff, my darlings! ;D**

Ren then placed the tiara – a delicate silver structure with pink crystals surrounding a stone similar to Corn – on her head, and whispered, "I crown thee Princess Kyoko, ruler of _Cor Meum_ – now and forever."

Her eyes were wide, her mouth was open, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. _This really is a fairytale… and I don't ever want the magic to end. I don't want to wake up from this dream, for it all to vanish again with the buzz of my alarm. Please, anyone who listens… don't let this be another dream of nightmares. Let me live in my fantasies… let me dream of impossibilities. Please, for once in my life… let me have my fairytale. _

"Princess Kyoko?" Ren whispered as he stood behind her, almost close enough to touch. "Art thou not prepared for thine coronation?"

She blinked at him, another tear spilling down her cheek, before what he'd said connected in her brain. Hiccupping, she shook her head and dashed away her tears. "No, I am prepared, and thank you a thousand times over for my lovely tiara, but…" her lashes lowered, and she slipped into her self-character, "…but what am I to call thee? Art thou a knight, or…?"

It was his turn to blink as he recognized the weight of what she was asking him. "I," he murmured, after a moment's pause, "am whatever my lady asks of me." It was true, he mused. _When she needs a scolding, I become her sempai. When she needs a confidant about something Kotonami-san will not listen to, I become her listener. When her roles are acting up, I become her teacher. And today…__. _He swallowed, and watched in the mirror as her cheeks colored. _Today, if she wants me to be her knight in shining armor, I shall be. And if, by some wild stroke of dream, she should accept the second half of my offer… then I shall take on a new role. _

She nodded, once, and did not meet his eyes in the mirror. "I thank thee, sir knight." There was an odd hitch in her voice, but he did not register it as he once more learned his lesson: Never, ever, ever, ever expect anything vaguely romantic when Kyoko is involved. It only leads to a broken heart.

"Art thou ready to depart, Princess Kyoko, now that thou art properly attired?" he stepped back from her slightly, so that she had enough room to turn around without bumping into him. When she did so, he offered her his arm.

"Will I be informed of our destination in a slightly less cryptic manner this time?" she inquired with a smile, taking the proffered limb.

"I told thee our previous destinations in perfectly straightforward manners, my princess," he smiled in return at her touch, smile, and light tone. "Did thou think it not so?"

Kyoko did not respond; she could not had she wanted to do so. His smile – the grudge-killing heavenly smile – had been combined with a teasing set of words, and… a new address. Yes, he called her 'princess' on the phone every evening, but to have him claim her as his princess… that was just because he was a knight, right? Knights have a sworn duty to the crown. That must be it…it must be….

But isn't he also a prince, according to the Royalty-treatment?

They would be a matched set… her face heated, and those thoughts were banished far more quickly than Ren would have liked, had he known the direction in which they were heading. Instead, she focused on the hallway in which they stood – for Ren had stopped walking when she had failed to give him a response – and was dazzled by the images with which it presented her. On all sides of the hall of mirrors, the floor-to ceiling reflective surfaces were showing a handsome prince paused in the act of escorting a beautiful princess. The golden sparkles in her skirts caught the light and gleamed much in the same way that their crowns – their shining, almost matching crowns, one of which had been bought specifically for _her_ – did, refracting the light… making them look like… like…

_ "_Faeries," she whispered, looking up at Ren – now more Kuon than Ren – in awe.

"Princess Kyoko of Cor Meum, located in the very bosom of the faerie realm," he confirmed in matching tones, forgetting to shield the emotions in his eyes. "As she was, is, and will be forevermore." He caught, then, her free hand – and pulled it to his lips, kissing it in gentle reverence. For she was his heart, and she was perpetually in the faerie realm – so who was he to say differently? Why deny something that was so obviously fact?

He released her hand, but only after brushing his lips once, twice, thrice over her knuckles. Her face was aflame – from his actions or from the look in his eyes, he would never know; he would never ask, and she would not have been able to say which, had he asked. She pulled her hand back to her chest instantly, her fingers curling in on themselves protectively. Though he knew that she was just in shock from – and probably embarrassed by – his actions, he could not help but have a faint fancy that perhaps, just perhaps, she was curling her fingers to keep the sensation trapped in her hand.

…Which she was doing, in some deep part of her – though she would never say that, not even under threat of torture. Under threat of losing her best friend, maybe, but torture? Never, not even in a thousand years.

"Would thee like to ride a noble steed, Princess Kyoko?" he inquired, well aware that if he did not speak now, the rest of the afternoon would be lost to her over-thinking and ruling against his actions in her heart. Besides, he had planned this day for her… and there was still so many ways left for her to enjoy herself.

"A noble steed?" she breathed, snapped out of her reverie.

"Yea," he nodded. "And I know just the place. Shall we be off?"

She swallowed, and pushed her foolish notions of reciprocation out of her mind. A smile spread across her face, making his heart flutter like the faeries she so loved. "We shall."

"Then to the carriage go we!" Ren exclaimed, sweeping his free arm grandly in the direction of the door – and promptly hitting it against one of the mirrors, as he had misjudged the space in the hall. The tension dropped abruptly.

"A-Art thou well?" Kyoko inquired, caught between concern and amusement.

"Yea, my princess, I am as spry as a chicken's gullet," Ren assured her as they began walking.

His sentence had the desired effect; Kyoko's laughter bubbled over at this nonsensical simile, and the tiny worry line disappeared from her forehead. He was treated to the sound of her laughter all the way out to the car. Only after he'd handed her in, gotten in, and turned on the car did her giggles peter out – and that was only because she began singing along with the Disney music again. At a stoplight, he glanced sideways at her, grinning, and found her singing to her tiara – she'd taken it off temporarily, and was holding it very carefully as she serenaded it with "I See the Light."

"Which movie is this from, by the way?" he inquired softly as he continued driving, silently wishing that she were singing to him, not her tiara. (She was, but he had no way of knowing that, as she wouldn't admit it even to herself.)

Kyoko turned to stare at him, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. "It's from _Tangled_!"

"Is that one good?" his tone was casual. "I've never seen it."

"Y-You've never seen _Tangled_?" Her eyes were full of pity. "But…but… it's a Disney movie! A Disney princess movie!"

"I just never had anyone to watch it with."

"What about Maria-chan?"

"She wasn't much for princesses at that point, unfortunately. It came out around her dark period, remember?"

Kyoko's eyes widened. "So do you think she hasn't seen it, either?"

"Hmm… perhaps. I'm afraid that I don't know."

Kyoko let out a wail of distress. "How is this even possible? So many people close to me haven't seen one of my favorite Disney princess movies! You, Maria-chan, Moko – even taisho and okami-san hadn't seen it until taisho announced that we were having a movie night! Amamiya-san wouldn't watch it because she doesn't like animated movies, and Moko flat-out refuses to watch a princess movie of any sort! And now you haven't even heard of _Tangled_!"

When he gave no response – he was too busy driving and being thrilled that she'd listed him among the people to who she was closest, and first, at that (though this was probably due to her actually talking to him at the time, rather than being first in her heart – so he chided himself) – she continued her rant. He did not hear a word of it, and nearly missed their turn due to his elation.

"…so it needs to be remedied!" she huffed loudly, crossing her arms. The CD seemed to agree, as it let out the perpetually-startling yell that heralded the beginning of "The Circle of Life."

"And how do you suggest that it be remedied?" he inquired, shutting off the car after pulling into a parking space.

"Well, that's the problem! I don't know! Maria-chan should be fairly easy to convince; we just need to coordinate a time, which can be made easier – sometimes the president shifts my Love Me tasks so I can spend more time with Maria-chan. He's very considerate…." She trailed off, struck with a brilliant idea. "A Disney day."

He furrowed his brow, and experienced the wave of foreboding that always precedes utter doom. "Pardon?"

"A Disney day," she beamed excitedly, putting her tiara back on her head with apparent glee. "The president has so many themes… he could do a Disney day! That way Moko and Amamiya-san would have to watch one, and you might be able to see at least part of one during your lunch break!"

"So I'll get to skip lunch?" he teased, unbuckling his belt.

"Knowing the president, he'll have a TV put in the cafeteria for the day," she replied, doing the same.

"But with my schedule, I still won't be able to see all of one, and there's no guarantee that it'll be _Tangled_," he reasoned.

Her eyes widened, and despair returned to her face. "That's right! Oh, no…."

"I suppose that I could rent it from the library – they carry movies now, did you know that? – and watch it on one of my free evenings," he mused, "but it's no fun watching a movie alone."

He hurried out of and around the car, watching with mild amusement as her face when from elation to depression. As he opened her car door, he heard a small "Oh…."

"So would you be willing to sacrifice an evening sometime to watch_ Tangled _with me?" he asked, holding out his hand to help her out (the skirts of her dress were slightly cumbersome when getting in and out of cars). At the indecision in her face, he extended his hand slightly closer and asked, "Don't you trust me?"

"Yes, I do," she responded, giving him Jasmine's smile and her hand. "I'm willing, but… I thought you didn't know Disney movies."

"I never said that. I simply said that I'd never seen_ Tangled_." He offered her his arm.

She took it. "What about_ Mulan_?"

"I adored Mushu," he chuckled.

"Did you see_ Frozen _when it came out?"

"No," he admitted, somewhat guiltily.

"What? I even dragged Moko to that one!" she gasped. "Dishonor on you! Dishonor on your cow! Dishonor on your entire family!"

"Thank you, Mushu," he muttered, grinning.

She shielded her eyes, but grinned back.

"Why do you always do that?" he inquired, leading her to their destination and silently thanking the stylists at Telling for making him as unrecognizable as possible.

"Do what?" she blinked.

"Cover your eyes or cower when I'm just smiling at you," he answered, a bit of wounded puppy creeping into his voice.

"I—" she broke off, blushing, and stared at her feet. "P-Please don't ask that – it's of no offense to you, I like your smile – I just – just—"

"Just?" he prompted. Had he crossed one of her lines? Also, were the facts that she liked his smile (and had admitted it!) and was blushing reasons for hope?

She looked around wildly, praying for a lifeline, and saw one: Their destination. Her squeal of delight temporarily wiped the question from his mind, though it did haunt his dreams (he would not be given a proper answer until _much _later, when she no longer cringed from his smiles). He chuckled, and had to hurry his footsteps to keep up with her excited pace.

Before them spun a carousel – the closest one he'd been able to find (after many breaks' worth of internet searches), and a very beautiful one, at that. It had a variety of animals in addition to the horses, such as zebras, roosters, and even the occasional ostrich. The focal point boasted a lovely automated organ, which provided the music. The line for the carousel was mercifully short for four o'clock in the afternoon, and they were able to get on without having a long wait. This was fortunate, as Kyoko seemed far too excited to be able to wait long. They did have a brief wait, though, and during it Kyoko felt a light tug on the skirts of her dress from behind. She looked down.

A little girl – around three or four, if she were to hazard a guess – was staring up at her, wide-eyed. "A-Are you a princess?"

Kyoko blushed, and then nodded. "For today."

"You're boo-ti-ful," the girl continued, awed. "And your crown is weally pwetty."

Kyoko bent down so that she could see eye-to-eye with the girl. "Do you want to try it on?"

The girl gasped in delight and nodded, before looking back up at her mother for permission. The girl's mother nodded, and mouthed a thank-you to Kyoko, who beamed in response. "T'ank 'oo!" the little girl squealed as Kyoko placed it on her head.

"Do you see a mirror anywhere?" Kyoko asked Ren. At his confused look, she elaborated, "So she can see how it looks on her."

His searching glance yielded no mirrors, but it gave him the second-best option. "Do you mind if I pick her up?" he asked the girl's mother.

"Please be careful with her," came the response. The woman furrowed her brow; the man looked familiar… this thought was dispelled when her little girl gave out a delighted shriek. Ren had lifted her onto his shoulders so that she could see her reflection in the upper, darkened window of an unused ticket booth. The girl gasped in awe – now she realized that the man lifting her was a prince, and his princess had been kind enough to let her try on her tiara. When the line began moving again, Ren set the little girl down. She hugged his legs, then reverently handed Kyoko her tiara. Kyoko then knelt down to give the little girl a hug in return.

"T'ank 'oo!"

"Thank you," her mother smiled at the costumed couple. "This has made her day. She loves fairytales."

"So does she," Ren smiled and gestured at Kyoko, who was still talking with the little girl. "She had a rough month, so today is a cheer-up day."

The mother felt her heart melt a little, and found herself missing her husband. "That's incredibly sweet of you. She's a lucky woman. Is she your girlfriend or your fiancé?"

He shot a glance at Kyoko, who was now having a very serious discussion with the little girl about whether Aurora's dress in _Sleeping Beauty_ should be pink or blue. "Neither, actually."

"You're married so young?" the mother smiled, watching as the two princesses (the little girl had been made a princess by her three minutes of tiara) agree that light purple would be a good color for Aurora.

"No, unfortunately. I've not even had the courage to ask her out on a formal date," he chuckled lowly.

"Then this is…?" the mother prompted skeptically, waving her hands at his attire.

"A combination of Truth or Dare and her having an awful month," he answered honestly. "She was hurt badly before, so I want to take things slowly with her." Part of him questioned why he was so willingly spilling secrets to this woman; perhaps he missed his mother more than he'd thought.

The woman smiled at him and took her daughter's hand. Kyoko rejoined the conversation, smiling from her utterly fulfilling Disney chat with someone who actually knew something about it. The woman said to her, as the gates to the carousel opened, "You are a very lucky girl. He's a wonderful man; keep him."

"I—" Kyoko paused, and absentmindedly smoothed down the front of her dress as she organized her thoughts. She smiled, softly murmuring, "I know."

Kuon's heart soared, and for a moment, Ren was swept away completely. He put a hand on Kyoko's waist as they slipped through the gates; she stiffened briefly, but did not pull away. He was heartened by this, and proceeded to have an extremely sappy smile on his face as he followed her around the carousel, looking at the horses. She eventually settled for a golden horse with false green crystals on its reins; he caught her by the waist and swung her up onto it easily. She grinned and arranged her skirts as he scrambled as gracefully as possible onto the black horse with golden reins directly next to Kyoko's. He was extremely thankful that he had not had to ride an ostrich, even if his feet still touched the floor while he was on the horse.

The carousel began, and Kuon found himself falling even more in love with Kyoko (was that even possible?) when he saw the absolute, innocent joy in her eyes during the ride. _Really,_ he thought, watching her, _I'm going to need to watch myself even more carefully after today. She's.… _A thousand words flooded his mind, but none seemed quite right; they only captured part of what he was trying to say. _Dad was right,_ he realized with a jolt. _When you love someone, you can think countless ways to describe them without anything actually capturing the essence of them, the thing that makes you love them._

Kyoko looked as if she were flying, yet at once tethered to her horse by the pole—

_She's free_.

_Free_, he thought, watching her laugh without restraint, without a care for those who stared at her. _She's freedom to me… something that seems so unattainable, and yet…_

She caught his gaze, finally, when the carousel slowly bobbed to a stop, and beamed at him in return. He swung himself off of his horse and had his hands at her waist before she could move.

_…and yet…_

She gave him a new smile – a shy one, a hopeful one, one he'd never seen before, one that thrilled him to his very core – and placed her hands on his shoulders, allowing him to gently lift her down from her horse.

_…and yet so deliciously close to my heart._

They lingered like that for a moment, her hands on his shoulders and his at her waist, before she stepped back with a fierce blush and distractedly smoothed down her skirts. They disembarked from the carousel together, and waved farewell to the little girl and her mother.

He offered her his arm, and she, still blushing madly, placed his hand on her waist. He became the personification of the 'large smile' emoticon. "Shall we return to the carriage, so that we may continue with the day's adventures?"

She gave a slight nod, her face a lovely shade of fuchsia as part of her consciousness berated her for her forwardness and lack of propriety. "We shall."

**There you go, my lovelies. :D Did you drown in fluff?**

**The true purpose of this is revealed: Get Kyoko to slowly realize that there could be a slight possibility that Ren might harbor affections of some sort towards her. Let's see if it works as he hopes. ;)**

**I hope that you liked it! Almost all of it – well, a majority, at least – was typed while I listened to "I See the Light" from **_**Tangled**_**. It was then edited while I listened to slightly over half of the **_**Aladdin**_** soundtrack. I'm a huge Disney fan, in case you couldn't tell. ;D **

**Please review, if only to yell at me for needless fluff or to tell me your favorite Disney movie. Mine's a tie between **_**Mulan**_** and **_**Tangled,**_** though **_**Frozen **_**and Aladdin are still stiff competition.**


	6. What Is the Ending of This Fairytale?

***does a dogeza* I'm so so so sorry for the delay! I started school on the 19****th**** and things have been crazy prior to and since then. A thousand thanks to all my reviewers, especially reviewergirl, who has been kind enough to review all of my Skip Beat fics. I wish that I could thank you personally for your overwhelming love! You made my day by noticing the color scheme on the horses. ^^**

**And, yes, I love potato pancakes. I do not own Skip Beat; I don't even have a potato pancake, for Pete's sake! Why would I own Skip Beat if I don't even have a potato pancake? *sighs* Please enjoy and then go try a potato pancake! :D PM me for a recipe or ask in the review, if you don't have a recipe of your own. ^^**

He offered her his arm, and she, still blushing madly, placed his hand on her waist. He became the personification of the 'large smile' emoticon. "Shall we return to the carriage, so that we may continue with the day's adventures?"

She gave a slight nod, her face a lovely shade of fuchsia as part of her consciousness berated her for her forwardness and lack of propriety. "We shall."

Ren beamed even more brightly, Kuon breaking through, and decided to test his luck. Without giving her any warning, he twirled her so that he was holding both sides of her waist. Then, laughing, he lifted her off her feet and spun her in a circle in the air – just as he had seen his father spin his mother countless times during his childhood. To his surprise and joy, a confused laugh escaped her lips.

"What are you doing?" Her eyes were crinkled in laughter, and her hands were braced against his shoulders. Behind them, the carousel started again. He set her on her feet, stepped back, and extended a hand.

"May I have the honor of dancing with you, my princess?"

She bit her lip, laughter still dancing in her eyes. She felt free, freer than she'd ever felt with another human; the liberation coursing through her veins was something only known to her in the company of faeries. The boyish joy in her knight's eyes egged her on, and she would have sworn, in that moment, that she felt wings flutter on her back. Her hand found his. "You may."

They did not waltz; they did not foxtrot; they did not do any sort of traditional dance befitting their outfits. Rather, they danced in a way that matched Kyoko's character as princess of faerie land, of what Ren had called _Cor Meum_. The dance matched the freedom coursing through her veins; he was certain that some of it infected him, made him drunk on something unnamable. They were dancing almost on air, so quick were their movements, and so wild; her skirts were flying, his cravat ruffling in the wind; they laughed together. Kuon was out in full force, now, the Kuon of years gone by… the Kuon whom Ren had thought had disappeared forever on the night all light had been extinguished from his world. It was amazing, really, how easily his faerie princess had flown back into his world and brought light to his darkened eyes… how she'd given him someone for whom to live again, and someone to really _be_ again. Her arms were around his shoulders, and he held her above the ground in something that would have, in any other situation and with any other people, been a lover's embrace. She pushed back, light shining in her eyes, and his heart burned. She was so, so, so very close… it would be so easy….

He set her on her feet again, and spun her by the hand. She danced away from him, a teasing smile gracing her lips; he chased after and caught her, holding her to him before he could remember himself.

The song ended.

He should pull back, bow like any good knight would do after dancing with his princess, like any decent prince would do – but he could not. When would he next get the chance to hold her like this again, if ever?

Her grip on his cravat tightened slightly. She should pull back and curtsy to her dance partner, like a princess should after dancing with… with her _prince_, her knight. It was only proper…. Her head rested against his chest.

He _needed_ to draw back; Kuon was pushing to hold her forever, and Ren was not giving a remotely convincing reason not to do so.

She _must_ pull back; the music had ended, and her heart was about to burst.

In the end, it was a giggling conversation of a pair of preteen girls who brought them back to reality. The two were blushing lightly as they tittered, whispering back and forth none-too-quietly about how lucky the girl was, and didn't the guy look positively _scrumptious_?

"Look at how they're dressed! Do you think that they lost a bet or something?" the first girl asked.

"Nah, it's probably for the girl's sake. Look how happy she is in his arms!" sighed her friend, who was holding a stuffed frog.

The first girl hugged a stuffed angel fish to her chest and moaned, "I'm so jealous! Why can't any of the guys we know be like that?"

"Like what – gorgeous?" frog-girl inquired.

Fish-girl shook her head. "Yeah, no – he was willing to dress up for _her_. He's probably really embarrassed, but he looks really happy, too."

"They look so good together," sighed frog-girl. "Like something straight out of a shojo manga."

"You and your manga," laughed fish-girl, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. "But I get your point."

"I think that they heard us," frog-girl announced, observing the red-faced Ren and Kyoko as they broke apart to bow and curtsy, respectively. "Aw, they're embarrassed. How cute!"

"I wonder how long they've been dating. That seems like the kind of thing a super-romantic guy would do before he proposes."

At this, they conversation was interrupted by Kyoko and Ren's synchronized splutter. The preteen girls left, giggling, now certain that they were right. The air between the faerie princess and her prince was suddenly quite awkward. Ren blinked a few times, and then extended his arm to an obviously flustered and mentally panicking Kyoko. "To the carriage then, my princess?" he inquired of her, his voice slightly weak with awkwardness.

This form of address snapped Kyoko out of her mental self-scolding, and she nodded. "O-Of course, sir knight."

After a few moments more spent in awkward silence, Ren added, "If you are worried, princess, fear not: I am not yet planning to propose. This is, after all, a cheer-up day, when I shall do my best to treat thee precisely as thou deserve." '_Yet' being the key word, _he added mentally. Perhaps there could be a repeat of this day, far in the future, and he could propose at the end of it? After all, he'd already given the symbol to her, even if she did not realize it…. At least he would know that he'd given one to her, should she never accept its true meaning, nor the roles it symbolized… if she never accepts him_._

Cutting off that steadily more gloomy train of thought, he handed Kyoko into the 'carriage' and then got in on the opposite side. Kyoko, meanwhile, was not sure which part of Ren's miniature speech she should be panicking over the most at the moment: the fact that he continued to call her a princess, the statement that he was not yet planning to propose (this filled her with equal measures of relief and disappointment for reasons she was unable to fully fathom), or the fact that he'd stated that he was trying to treat her as he believed she deserved to be treated. She… she was just Kyoko… so why was he treating her like a princess, if today was a day for her to be treated 'as she deserved'? Was he honestly delusional enough, ridiculously kind enough to believe that someone like her… that someone like her deserved to be treated like a princess? It just didn't seem possible, and yet…

_Yet._ Her train of thought abruptly switched tracks. _He said he wasn't 'yet' planning to propose… as if he thought he would propose someday in the future. _She shook her head; she was being ridiculous. _He just put it that way because it made the syntax of the sentence work better, right?_

"Buckle up, princess. It would not do for thee to be injured."

_Then why does he look at me like that?_ She shielded her eyes and buckled her seatbelt. _It's just part of his character, right?_

Ren smiled at her and turned on the car; the Disney music started up again, and "The Circle of Life" continued playing.

_ …Right?_ She glanced out the window, and was distracted. "Oh my gumdrops!"

Ren, who had been about to start driving, shifted the gear back into park. "Pardon?"

"They have potato pancakes!" his princess gasped, pointing out the window at a small booth he'd not noticed prior to their riding the carousel. "Father told me about them – he said that they were really good! I wonder what they're doing here in Japan; they're traditionally a German food, you know."

"Would you like to get some?" her prince queried, easily sliding his question into her stream of informative babbling.

"Oh, I couldn't possibly impose, and I'm afraid that my wallet is with my street clothes."

"What kind of knight would I be if I let a lady – a _princess_, no less – pay for her own food? It goes against my code of chivalry, the one that I swore to you!" he declared, and shut off the car. Before she could speak another word, he was assisting her out of the car and escorting her over to the potato pancake stand.

"Behold: The snack of royalty!" he exclaimed, once they were seated on a small bench under a tree with a steaming stack of potato pancakes between them. The person running the booth had been startled by their appearance, but had been willing to play along with the charade as long as he got paid, with an added tip for keeping his mouth shut.

Kyoko bit into one, and Ren saw her entire body go at least partially limp from the flavor. He grinned; she always made food seem more delicious, even if she was the only one actually tasting it. This, of course, changed shortly. She looked at him – eyes shining to the point that _he_ had to look away – and insisted that he try one. "They're too delicious to keep all to myself!"

"But did I not say that it was a snack of royalty?" he inquired of her, almost challengingly.

"Aren't most knights of noble blood?" she shot back, taking another pancake from the stack and holding it in front of his face.

"Noble, yes; royal, no." His eyes danced with mischief over the pancake as her brow furrowed; she summoned up her nerve.

"Then this is a royal command. Would thou make a lady – nay, a… a _princess_ – eat unaccompanied?" At his mildly stunned expression, her voice softened. "Did ye not say, sir knight, that thou wouldst keep me in good company this day?"

"I did," he admitted, and took a bite from the pancake that she still held in front of his face. She squeaked; he chuckled internally as he chewed. "There are rather good."

She nodded furiously and snatched her hand back, leaving the rest of the pancake to dangle from between his teeth. As she busied herself with another of the pancakes, he slowly pulled the one she'd given him into his mouth and observed as the tips of her ears grew steadily redder. This intrigued him; had he ever seen her ears go red before? Was she blushing, or had she gotten a sunburn during their morning in the park? Without truly thinking, he reached out and brushed her hair behind her ear to get a better look.

She stiffened at his touch. In the human realm, this gesture might simply be considered tender, which was bad enough… but in the faerie realm, this was downright intimate. Her ears had always been more sensitive than most humans' ears… and to have this man touch one of them while she was playing a princess of the faerie realm…! "S-Sir knight… what dost thou do?"

Ren snapped back to reality, and hastily withdrew his hand. "My apologies, my princess. I was simply concerned – your ears are red, and I thought that you might have a sunburn, so I was investigating." He would _not_ say that he was hoping that she was blushing because of him.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, and he shifted uneasily. "Thou would do well to remember the rules of intimacy, sir knight. Or were thee not thusly informed when thou crossed over from the human realm?" It was in-character for a princess to instruct someone in the rules of propriety, right?

"I… am afraid that the boundaries were different in the land of my birth," he replied, unconsciously taking a potato pancake from the stack and folding it in half. It was true, even if she thought that he was referring to the human realm in general and not the USA. "If thou would be so kind as to instruct me, my princess?"

She nodded slowly, and dusted her fingertips over the points of her ears – the ones the make-up artists had put in place, as per Ren's request. "In the faerie realm, ears are… far more intimate than hands…" she paused, and swallowed slightly before continuing, "…than lips, even. To touch a faerie's ears in any way is to declare your intentions towards her. Frequently…" she paused again, and dipped her head so that he could not see the blush on her cheeks. She'd been studying faerie folklore more deeply as of late, which she enjoyed; but to have to recount it, especially to this man, her knight… her _prince_… that feat was a bit too much for her to bear.

"Frequently?" he whispered, the folded potato pancake still in his fingers; even his cheeks were warm from what she had told him. As far as he could tell, his simple gesture had been more intimate than a kiss in the faerie realm…and she was a princess of the faerie realm that day. A part of him egged him to kiss her and be done with it, as he'd already crossed the line – what further damage could he possibly do?

She swallowed awkwardly. "Frequently, in the lower classes, a faerie couple will rub each other's ear tips in front of their families to announce an engagement to wed."

"Oh." He blinked, not quite sure how to respond to this information. The potato pancake crumbled in his hand, and fell onto the skirt of her dress.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, hurriedly picking off the potato bits before they could stain her dress.

This snapped him back to reality – his future proposal now having a new detail – and he helped her remove the potato, apologizing for his misunderstanding all the while. "I wouldn't want to do anything before you were ready for it."

She kept her eyes low, for once unable to misinterpret the meaning of his words. "It's quite alright, as long as you understand, my…" she shook her head, cutting off the dangerous form of address; she was not ready to accept the second half of his offer – not yet! "…sir knight. As long as you understand."

"Of course," he replied softly, and then gestured at the remaining two potato pancakes in a wildly transparent attempt to lighten the mood. "Er – would you like another pancake?"

She smiled slightly, and nodded. "Only if you eat the other one."

He chuckled and relented to her whim. "As you wish."

"You say that frequently," she noted, eating one of the last two pancakes and pushing the other towards him.

"Have you ever seen a human movie – or read a book – called _The Princess Bride_?" he queried in reply, reluctantly picking up the pancake.

"No, I've not, sir knight. I have little time to spend in the human realm these days."

"In that case, I shall view the movie with you at some point in the future."

She agreed, and the final pancakes were consumed in good cheer. They then returned to the carriage; he checked his pocket watch as he opened her door. "When are you due back to your kingdom, my princess?"

"Ah – midnight, I believe; that is the traditional hour. What bell is it now?"

"It's the seventh human bell. Would you care for some dinner?" It pained him to ask this, but he knew that she appreciated three square meals a day.

She deliberated for a moment. "Perhaps at the next full bell?"

"Eight?"

"Yes, so we can say that we ate at eight."

He chuckled. "Would you care to go out for food, or perhaps order in and unwind from the day?"

She shifted in her seat, adjusting her admittedly aching feet. It had been a fun day, and it was not over yet, but simply sitting for a little while sounded appealing. "I would like to unwind in a more private setting, if you do not mind."

"Of course I do not." He was far too busy rejoicing over the fact that she actually _preferred_ to be in private with him to mind much of anything.

"I could cook for us," she offered. "It's the least that I can do."

"Today is a day for cheering you up; you shouldn't have to lift a finger. If you'll allow me to be selfish…" He gave an awkward smile, and continued, "…I'd feel better if I knew that you weren't going to any trouble or worry about me. This is supposed to be your day, and I'm honored to spend it with you."

"I…" This sudden, dangerous statement robbed her of her protests, and she nodded. "Th-Thank you."

"You're quite welcome. Now, since we have an hour, would you care to drop by one last place?"

She nodded, and he started up the car. "Where are we going this time?"

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, with a playful sparkle in it that she found far too appealing for her own good. "We're going to go have your royal portrait taken."

"Royal…portrait?" She found herself suddenly breathless at the prospect. It would be proof - unshakeable proof - that this amazing day had actually happened. She would have evidence of her day as a faerie princess, with her… her prince at her side.

"Yes. Unfortunately, there's not enough time for paint, so we'll be using cameras for your portrait."

"My portrait?" Yes, she knew she sounded dim, but she was in something of a shock; and yet… "What about you?"

"Would you like me to be in them?"

"Well… they are royal portraits, after all…." She turned to the window, her face heated. Normally, she would have been able to mask this, but now, after today… was it even possible anymore?

"Yes, and I'm just a knight."

She murmured something, after a few minutes of softly playing Disney music had passed.

"What was that, my princess?"

"But didn't you say that you could be both?" she whispered, still gazing out the window.

He pulled into the photography studio's parking lot and shut off the car. "Are you referring to the second part of my offer?"

She was silent for a few long moments, and then murmured, "Yes."

"And… would you like me to be?"

He could see her almost bittersweet smile reflected in the dim reflection of her window. "Haven't you always been?"

"Nothing would please me more." _For now, for always. _

"Then you… y-you will be in the portraits as well."

She did not need to turn around to know that the smile he gave her was infinitely more powerful than any she'd ever experienced. But why? Why would something with such… such obvious implications, even to the point where she could understand them, make him happy when she accepted? That… wasn't possible. It just wasn't…

Was it?

_Perhaps,_ one of her angels whispered. _Perhaps it's possible. Perhaps he's serious… consider how he looks at you, Mistress. Consider how well he treats you. It's possible, Mama… it's _likely_, even, that he means it._

She swallowed, and realized that Ren was waiting patiently to help her out of the carriage. Stuttering an apology that he waved away – he could see the hint of mental progress in her eyes – she took his hand and allowed him to help her up. "Thank you."

His smile was tender, but his hands fidgeted. Would it be proper, given what had just been said, to put his hand back on her waist? Would it be better to not try his luck, and simply extend his arm to her? In the end, he settled for placing one of his hands in the small of her back to guide her; she needed both hands to hold the front of her skirts while she climbed the stairs, after all. They entered the studio, and were met by a nervous-looking photographer.

"Reservation for Tsuruga," Ren informed the man, "for royal portraits."

"Y-Y-Yes, Tsuruga-sama, of course, sir! Right this way, p-please!" the photographer stuttered, his fingers twitching rapidly as he bowed to them. Ren shrugged, half-smiling, at Kyoko.

"Do you get that frequently, P-Prince…Ren?" she inquired softly, her question inquiring more about the form of address than the reaction.

"Quite so, Princess Kyoko," he beamed in return, silently telling her that it was perfectly alright to address him in such a manner. His dreams would be beautiful torture for the next month; that much was assured, after spending this day in her company. She'd said his given name – his stage name, yes, but his given name all the same.

Her ear tips turned red at that, and remained so until they'd followed the photographer into the room of the shoot. At that point, all non-la-la thoughts were forcibly expelled from her brain.

"It's… it's Corn's clearing…."

He nodded, and sat down on the replica of the rock he'd liked to sit on in that clearing.

"But…how…?"

A smile, almost sad, ghosted his lips. "You describe things very well, my princess. I just did my best in directions for reproducing it."

"But it's perfect," she breathed, awed. "Thank you. Thank you so much!"

At which point he received a cruelly short hug before she danced off among the faeries. _But she had hugged him. _She, Kyoko, had hugged him! Of her own free will, without a single prompt! He stared at her somewhat dazedly, and the photographer – who happened to be a recent addition to Lory's circle – snapped a few shots of the scene.

"Wh-Whenever y-you're ready, w-we can be-g-gin."

Kyoko snapped out of la-la land abruptly, apologized for holding up the proceedings, and then inquired where she was to stand. The photographer – shaking madly – had Ren stand up and positioned him slightly behind Kyoko, and to her right. He then had Kyoko lean slightly back against him, so that her tiara would better catch the light. Neither of them needed to be told to smile for the camera, though of course Kyoko was smiling because of her faeries.

Next, the photographer instructed them to stand by the artificial stream, as if watching something dance in the water. When Kyoko had descended into la-la land again – she'd spent quite a lot of time there today – the shaking man instructed Ren to stand behind her, looking over her head, and wrap his arms around her waist. Ren was especially pleased to do this, particularly when Kyoko only temporarily stiffened in his embrace before using his arms as support to lean closer to the water faeries. He sighed, content to stay like this until the faeries truly came to carry them both home – and even that wouldn't be long enough.

_Forever and a day, is it?_ he mused, tucking his nose into the crook of her neck and breathing in deeply. She smelled of makeup and new grass, plus something uniquely Kyoko. He wanted to devour her, to love her, to make her see what she could do, show her how amazing she was. He wanted to be free to hold her like this always, without a camera as an excuse. _Forget forever and a day. I want infinity with Kyoko._

She leaned back and smiled at him almost upside-down, and he had to restrain himself to kissing her nose. The photographer got the shot; her ears burned with heat. She looked away, shy, and the photographer directed them to the next pose, which only worsened her mental panic. It was something more of a traditional royal portrait, but they'd been posed as if they were betrothed, side by side and hand in hand. Ren's glowing smile did not help.

"Is anything wrong, my faerie princess?"

She looked up from their entwined hands and shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing at all." Which she meant, though even she did not know it, and would not know it for quite some time.

The photographer bid them farewell, as their hour was up, and the royal almost-couple walked back to the entrance hall, their hands still entwined for reasons unfathomable to Kyoko. Had he gotten that caught up in the photo shoot, to think that they were engaged –or that their characters were, at least?

"You are beautiful, you know."

"Eh?" She blinked, startled by his seemingly random announcement. "No, I—"

"Here, I'll prove it," he said, dragging her over to a mirror hanging on the wall.

"But that's just—"

"Now repeat after me," he instructed, placing her directly in front of the mirror.

"After me," she parroted.

He grinned, and then began the commonly-misquoted spell. "Magic mirror on the wall…"

"Magic mirror on the wall…" _This is cruel; why prove something that I know to be true? The image in the mirror is going to change… perhaps this is to keep me humble, so that I don't misunderstand his intentions?_

"…who is fairest of them all?" he whispered, and then stepped away from her, out of the mirror's reflective range.

"…who is fairest of them all?" she repeated, eyes dull, and awaited the impending image change. When, after a few moments, it did not, she announced, "The spell didn't work."

"What makes you say that?" he inquired, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"The image… it didn't change. It's just showing me."

He smiled, and stepped behind her once more; he dared to slip his arms loosely around her waist. "The spell worked, my princess. It worked perfectly."

"B-B-But-!" she spluttered; he took heart from the fact that she was not fighting to get out of his loose embrace. She hadn't seemed to notice it, either, but a small victory is still a victory.

"Magikarp, right?" he grinned, meeting her eyes in the mirror.

"Yes! Exactly!" she exclaimed, unaware that a new inside joke had been born for the two of them.

He, however, was aware, and enjoyed it immensely; inside jokes always seemed to have some sense of intimacy, particularly with someone as guarded as Kyoko. "I'll keep that in mind, then."

She glanced away from his reflected heavenly light; why did he sound so tender? More importantly, why did he insist that the spell worked when it so obviously hadn't? Had he really been that fooled by the makeup magic and the costuming? But then, magic wouldn't be fooled so easily… why? Why did he think – or say, at least – that the spell worked? Besides, hadn't he said before…?

"P-Prince Ren," she whispered, shifting her weight but not stepping out of his loose embrace, "when you were teaching me how to walk like a model, for Natsu, you said that you were teaching me techniques from someone who was praised as the most beautiful woman in the world. The spell can't have worked, because it would have shown her if it had."

His arms tightened around her momentarily, and he was gripped even more tightly by the desire to assure that she did not misunderstand him. "This mirror's spell works specifically for unmarried women. I… I was talking about my mother that time. She's a model, and is probably working on her own fashion designs by now."

"You don't know?"

"No. Actually, I've not spoken to her in five years."

"Why?" she murmured this, afraid to pry yet too curious not to ask.

"I…" He closed his eyes; this was neither the place nor the time. "I'm sorry. I can't tell you yet."

"I-I'm so sorry for intruding on your privacy! I—" She attempted to drop into a dogeza, but was stopped by his tightened embrace.

"It's fine. I do want to tell you eventually, just not… not now. Sometime soon, but… I don't want to taint today, and it would all take too long to explain." With great effort, he smiled at her in the mirror. "But don't worry about it. I'm fine – after all, I have the honor of attending my princess."

She allowed him to spin her away from the mirror and onto his arm, the way they'd walked as of late; she then imitated his habit of the day. "As you wish."

He stumbled slightly, but was able to regain his equilibrium before anything unfortunate occurred. _She's never read nor seen it,_ he reminded himself silently. _She doesn't know what it means – she doesn't know that "as you wish" means "I love you." Still, to hear those words from her lips…._ He smiled at her, waving away her worried queries. "Shall we go to my quarters, then, my princess?"

She ducked her head, and for a moment seemed almost as shy as if she knew the meaning of her prior words. "That would be pleasant, sir… prince." Then she smiled at him, erasing any worries he'd held about her not enjoying this day. "What shall we be eating?"

"Does Chinese food sound good, or would you prefer Italian, or something else?" he asked in return as they entered the car.

She deliberated for a moment. "As much as I love Italian, I feel that it would be too messy. Perhaps you could choose a cuisine?"

"Do you like Middle Eastern food? Lebanese, in particular?"

"I don't know, as I've never had it. It doesn't specialize in frog legs, does it?"

"Not that I'm aware of. It usually has lighter fare, but can be very filling. Have you ever had lamb?"

"Only once, on a special occasion at the ryokan." She said this carelessly, as if the place no longer held much – if any – pain for her.

He took heart from this. "There's a menu in the glove box, I think. Yashiro-san put it there after we stopped at the restaurant for lunch one day."

"It looks good," she commented, flipping through it. "Hmm…"

_You're adorable. _He thought this, but did not say it; he could not read her emotions and focus on driving at the same time. After she'd decided what she wanted to eat and called in their orders on Ren's phone, he asked, "Would you like to change back into plebian attire before we eat, so we don't have to worry about getting humus on our costumes?"

She looked down at her wonderful princess dress and twisted the fabric slightly in her hands. Her feet kicked out from under the skirts long enough to show their shine before disappearing again; one of her hands reached up and traced her tiara. Truly, it made sense; she didn't want to risk getting something so wonderful messy. "I suppose so," she sighed.

"If you like, you could store the dress itself in the closet of the guest bedroom; I'm guessing that it would take up too much room in your closet at home, yes?"

"Oh, I couldn't impose—"

"Would it?" he pressed, turning onto the next street.

"Yes," she admitted, smoothing the skirts. "Thank you. I think that I have enough room for the tiara and shoes, though."

"And the makeup," he reminded – rather, informed – her. "The stylists at Telling said that you could keep the makeup that they used on you today. The containers are in the same bag as your clothes."

"The makeup…?" she asked, her voice tiny with awe. "I get to keep the makeup?"

He nodded, and pulled into the parking lot of the Lebanese food take-out place. "The stylist said that it's just basic sanitation; everyone keeps the makeup that is used on them, particularly with more elaborate treatments."

Her eyes glowed, and she went into near-raptures of happiness. He was forced to leave the car – telling her to wait just a moment, as he was merely going to fetch the food – to avoid doing something that would cross her boundaries. He'd made so much progress that day already; it would be horrible if it were to somehow reset. The bell rang as he walked into the restaurant, and he was severely stared at by the restaurant's patrons. There were few problems, however, and soon the bell was ringing again as he walked back out to his love. What he saw made him unsheathe his sword and attack – or would have, had Kyoko (who had apparently gotten out of the car to untangle a bird from a bush) not taken care of the situation herself.

The relatively shady-looking humanoid life-form had been bothering her by making lewd comments about her costume – most pertaining to giving her a 'royal' punishment and her riding things other than horses. This irritation had, in turn, caused Kyoko's patience to snap. When the man had actually attempted to touch her, she had simply twisted and sent him flying – just as Cain had taught Setsu to do one rather eventful night in the hotel room. The unfortunate brute had landed at Ren's feet, and found a sword pointed at his neck. An apology and a promise to never do that again to anyone, ever, were soon extracted from the cretin, and he scuttled off with only a single horrified backwards glance. Ren sheathed his sword, fighting the impulse to run it through the man's back, and inquired after Kyoko's health. She assured him that she was perfectly fine aside from her arms, which ached slightly from the effort of flipping the brute over her hip.

"It seems that my princess doesn't need my protection," Ren sighed, smiling.

"I only did what Cain taught Setsu," she demurred. "Besides, does it not behoove a ruler of faerie land to be able to protect herself?"

"Indeed it does," he affirmed as they re-entered the car, food still safely in its bag despite the ruckus. "I hope that one day I may be able to rule over a similar kingdom."

"I... was under the impression that we were ruling over _Cor Meum_ together," she murmured, stabilizing the bag with her hands.

"Nay; as lovely a thought as that is, you reign supreme over _Cor Meum, _as is only right for a faerie princess. Someday, however, I hope to one day be the prince of _Cor Tuum_."

"Is that…near my kingdom?"

He reached over and took one of her hands in his; he had yet to start driving, and they were in plain sight, but he couldn't quite bring himself to care. "It is very close to _Cor Meum_ right now… and I pray that it may always be that way, or closer. For without _Cor Tuum,_ _Cor Meum_ is incomplete. They're two pieces of a puzzle. If I may one day rule over _Cor Tuum_ – right now, its keeper guards it well, and it is uncertain if I am the heir – then perhaps you will permit _Cor Meum_ to be complete?"

"Of course," she smiled. "I'm sure that you'll rule there one day soon, and rule well."

_I hope so,_ he thought. _I really hope that one day I may be permitted to cherish _Cor Tuum _as you hold _Cor Meum. _Will you let me?_ Aloud, he whispered, "Thank you," and started up the car. "A Whole New World" began playing, as the CD had yet to be finished. Ren smiled as Kyoko began singing – and then wondered what she would do if he sang Aladdin's parts.

As it transpired, she was beyond thrilled when he did so, and threw herself into singing Jasmine's parts with a renewed vigor. The rest of the ride was a happy one, and they were still singing when he pulled into the parking structure for his apartment. He then popped the CD out – with a promise to listen to it, or at least watch a Disney movie, during dinner – and took the bag of carryout from her hands. He then got the bag of their clothes (and makeup from Telling) out of the trunk, waving away as he did so Kyoko's protests that she could carry something. "Won't you indulge me a little, Princess Kyoko? It would hardly be proper of me, after all, to let a princess carry things that I can take care of myself. After all, these are mostly my things."

"Yes, but—"

"Please?"

"Princes should _not_ be allowed to puppy-dog-pout," she muttered, but let the matter drop. She gave him a sideways smile when he still insisted on holding the door open for her (and nearly pitched a fit when she attempted to hold one for him) despite carrying everything, and laughed when he attempted to juggle things to get to his keys. Eventually, she fished the key out of the inner pocket of his jacket for him, and opened the door to his apartment. Nodding his thanks, he hurried through the door, shook off his shoes, and placed the bags on the nearest table. Then he looked back at her; she was leaning against the door, and seemed to be trying to convince herself to do something.

"Is something wrong?" he inquired, voice gentle.

She looked up at him, her face pinched. "I…I know it's silly, and it's been such an amazing day, so I really shouldn't be hesitating like this, but I just—" she paused, and lifted her skirts slightly, looking down at her shoes. "I just don't want the magic to end. Not yet."

"And taking off your shoes signals the end of the magic?" He stepped into his house slippers.

She nodded, a bit ashamed. "I mean, it's all been absolutely wonderful, and I really couldn't ever ask for more, and—"

He touched a finger to her lips. "I don't mind if you keep your shoes on, princess. This is _your_ day, after all."

"Really?" She surprised him with this; he'd expected her to argue about it being improper, or about getting his floor dirty. It was not an unpleasant surprise, so he smiled.

"Of course." He offered her his arm, and she took it – he'd give her the castle-themed slippers another day. Whatever was required to preserve the magic, he would do.

Dinner was a comfortable affair, spattered sporadically with light conversation about the wonders of the day and accompanied by a slightly more romantic Disney medley. For once, this did not bother her; nor did it bother her when he pulled her chair out for her… nor even when he'd placed his hand over hers briefly, when they'd both reached for the humus at the same time – his for his shwarma, her for her grape leaves. She'd blushed, yes – he'd rejoiced – but she had not found herself to be remotely bothered, even as her grudges screamed from their vantage point behind Mio, telling her to run now or all would be lost. They split the kibbie, and Ren found himself suddenly liking baklava very much when she offered it to him in the same way she had the potato pancake. Somehow they managed not to get any food on their costumes.

After dinner had been eaten and Ren had successfully persuaded Kyoko that he could do the dishes later (princesses did _not_ do dishes), they settled onto his couch and talked of the two faerie kingdoms. Kyoko expressed her concern, at one point, that she would be able to properly care for her kingdom. Ren assured her in no uncertain terms that it would be more than safe in her hands, and would care for her in return. She seemed to catch something of his hidden meaning in this, yet she smiled. _The magic will not end,_ she realized. _Not as long as I can hold this day in my memory, as long as I can keep it in my box._

She stood, and reluctantly noted that she should get changed and get ready to go home if she didn't want to worry okami-san and taisho. He agreed with similar sentiment, and informed her that there would be a hanger in the closet for her dress. She blinked. "You had this all planned from the beginning?"

He did not answer, but instead kissed her hand and escorted her to the door of her guest bedroom. There he bowed. "Until next time, my princess. I shall not retain my personality, so I wish thee the best of luck with the ruling of thine kingdom. I hope to one day be able to accompany you again." Then he retreated to his bedroom, where he shed his costume and hung it in his closet, next to the suit coat that Kyoko had once helped him fix. After donning some moderately casual garb, he returned to the hallway, where he found a very embarrassed Kyoko waiting for him, still in her costume.

"Um, Prince R—Tsuruga-san," she whispered, cheeks violently red, "would you mind undoing the laces on my dress, please? I can't reach them."

He nodded, and she bared her back to him; he tried desperately not to let his thoughts wander, and said, "Ren is fine. You're a princess of the faerie kingdom, remember?"

She stilled for a moment at his words; his fingers slowed in their movements, brushing against the skin of her back. "Then please call… call me Kyoko."

"As you wish, Kyoko," he murmured, and this time even he could almost see the grudges shuddering. Her heart was in danger of revolting, and his was not doing much better. The rest of the laces were untied quickly, and he stepped back from her almost immediately. "You're…done." He averted his eyes from her bare skin, more to preserve his sanity than due to his gentlemanly image.

"Thank you, Pr—Ren." She bowed, further torturing him (did she not realize that dresses gapped when they were unfastened?), and quickly retreated to the guest room and shut the door behind her. The door seemed to beat with her pulse, and she slowly began to disrobe. Her shoes were removed, and then her dress; the latter was hung on the promised hanger, and then stored carefully in the closet – that way, any other guest would not notice it at first glance and draw strange conclusions. Then her gloves were removed and folded into crisp little squares; the sparkling jewelry and hair accessories were the next to come off and be stored away. She next slipped into the adjoining bathroom to remove her make-up (her beautiful princess make-up!) and pointed ears. Finally, after she had dressed in her everyday clothes – Ren had slipped the bag into the guest bedroom shortly before dinner – the tiara was the only thing remaining of her outfit. She was still struggling with herself, trying and failing to argue that it should be removed, when Ren tapped on the door.

"Are you alright?"

She opened the door, and he was struck anew by the fact that he truly loved her. It was dangerous, really, for her to be this close to him, this trusting. For what else could she be, if she'd allowed him to take her everywhere he had today, to dress her up as he had?

"I'm better than I've been in years, actually," she admitted, her eyes concealed by her bangs.

"I'm glad to hear it." He meant it; didn't he always? "Are you ready to return home?"

_No._ "It is almost midnight," she nodded.

"Shall we, then?" he inquired, taking her bag – the one containing her new shoes, makeup, gloves, and accessories – from her, mentally noting that she was going to berate herself once she realized quite how much he'd bought her. The tiara sparkled on her head.

She threaded her arm through his, and his stomach swooped. "We shall."

The ride back to Darumaya was at once too short and too long – short because of the mutual longing for the day to not be over just yet, long because they were both quite tired – and accompanied once more by Disney music. They arrived, and Ren helped her out of the car the same way he had all day. She gave him a shy, awkward smile, and inquired if he still ought to be doing that for her – she was no longer in costume, after all.

"But did I not say that you would now and forever by the princess of _Cor Meum_?" he replied, linking their arms as he walked her up to her door.

"You did," she admitted, and paused at the door, her key in her hand. "Thank you for today."

"Did you enjoy it?" he inquired, brushing his lips over her hand.

"It…." She looked up at him through her lashes. "….It was a fairytale. A perfect fairytale. And I'm glad… I'm glad that I could have it with you." This last part she said with some effort, but his expression was worth it; in that moment, he was finally, completely sure that she'd truly accepted his offer in its entirety, the one he'd made her back at the Takarada mansion….

_ He shifted tentatively closer to her, placing one hand on the side of her away from him so that he engulfed her without trapping her. He swallowed and leaned close to her, eyes shutting when his lips nearly brushed against her ear. He murmured to her, softly, so that none but she could hear what he said._

_ "Mogami-san, you are very familiar with princesses, yes?"_

_ Lory and Maria watched, intrigued. Kyoko – who had fully returned from Annabel while Ren was in his stupor – sat, slightly stiff, in Ren's almost-embrace. While at first downcast from something she refused to name, her eyes were soon lit with curiosity at his murmur. _

_ "Of course, what of them?"_

_ Ren murmured softly once more, his lips now brushing against her earlobe, "If you ever want someone to treat you like one, let me know, and I will. I could even be your prince, if you want me to." _

_ Kyoko's face grew pink – though from his words or his touch, the observers could not be certain (except for Sebastian, of course, who is Sebastian and therefore hears all). But even they could not miss the look of absolute longing that she gave him as he drew away, one that nearly snapped his control and completely melted Lory's heart – a look of longing tinged with something she refused to name, a dark something broken only by the purest light… a something that he could not yet give her, and a something that she was not yet ready to receive. _

What would come of this, he did not know at that time, but he could hope. That day had really been for both of them, he mused as she looked up at him again, shy. For her, it had been a day to cheer her up, and for him… for him it had been a day to gain hope.

"Ren," she murmured, and he leaned down to hear her better; but she did not have anything else to say. The faerie in her took over, and she brushed her lips over his cheek. His eyes closed at her touch, and did not open again until she spoke once more. "Thank you."

"Any time, my princess. Sweet dreams." He was in something of a daze, and almost did not register the words she spoke before disappearing into Darumaya… and what he heard made him far too happy to sleep that night.

"Sleep well… my prince."

Neither of them noticed until the next morning that one of her shoes was missing; Ren smiled when he came across it in the guest bedroom of his apartment, and resolved to return it to his Cinderella soon.

After all, their chance of a happily ever after had never been better.

**The end~! :D**

**I hope you liked it and thought it worth the wait. Hence, it's extra-long!**

**Do you want to see more – perhaps Lory's, Yashiro's, and Moko's reactions? ;)**

**Thank you for reading! Please drop me a line or two! :D**

**Sweet dreams, my lovelies. I now need to sleep. Good night!**


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